ZERO CREDIBILITY
Our country’s in crisis, Brexit talks are doomed, the NHS is crumbling... but the PM thinks moments before a crucial speech about our future is a good time to ‘dad dance’ to Abba
THERESA May pranced out for her keynote speech to an Abba song – as her political rivals plotted to dance on her grave.
The PM stunned activists at the Tory conference in Birmingham yesterday by showing off her moves, before launching a last-ditch bid to stay in No10 with a £2billion spending vow.
But Mrs May, facing bitter infighting over her Brexit plan, was left humiliated when Tory MP James Duddridge submitted a letter of no-confidence to the 1922 backbench committee.
Minutes before she took to the stage, he blasted her as “incapable”, hailed her arch-rival Boris Johnson as a “leader” and warned she was “haemorrhaging support”.
However, Mrs May did her best to look carefree as she strutted in to Dancing Queen – making light of the much-shared video of her dancing on a trip to South Africa.
And in a bid to woo voters sick of spending cuts, she declared the age of austerity over. She vowed next year’s post-Brexit spending review will increase investment for public services.
Mrs May pledged a £1billion housing boost, a £800million freeze on fuel duty and a new strategy to boost early detection of cancer.
Acknowledging voter weariness with belttightening, she promised “better days ahead” and added: “A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and that their hard work has paid off.”
She also admitted for the first time that the Tory wars over the EU divorce might mean “ending up with no Brexit at all”. Standing by the Chequers plan, denounced by Boris Johnson a day earlier as an “outrage”, she vowed: “I know we can get a deal that delivers for Britain.”
The PM also repeatedly mentioned Labour in a sign she is aware of the threat Jeremy Corbyn poses to her spot in No10.
She said the takeover of Labour by the Left was a “national tragedy”. She said she wanted “decent, moderate and patriotic” Tories to be “a party for the whole country”.
And she brazenly insisted the cash-starved NHS “embodies our principles as Conservatives” – hours after the Mirror exposed a young Tory activist wearing “F*** the NHS” T-shirt.
Mrs May received a standing ovation as she concluded her 64-minute address with an appeal: “Together, let’s build a better Britain.” But opponents rubbished her speech. Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: “May’s claim this is an end to austerity is a complete con. The Tories have promised this before – and it was a con then, too.”
The SNP’s Ian Blackford claimed Mrs May “danced around the key issues – the disastrous impact of Tory austerity and a Tory hard Brexit”.
Lib Dem chief Sir Vince Cable said: “She was dancing on the head of a pin, confronted by an audience full of people plotting to oust her.”