Post-brexit Britain full of promise, says May

In one of the most important speeches of her political career, Theresa May will seek to rally her fractious party behind her by declaring that Britain’s postbrexit future is “full of promise”.

The prime minister will make a direct appeal to mainstream Labour voters disillusioned by Jeremy Corbyn’s leftwing agenda to switch to the “decent, moderate, patriotic” Tories.

And she will borrow the Labour leader’s “For the many, not the few” slogan as she declares that Conservatives are “a party not for the few, not even for the many, but for everyone who is willing to work hard and do their best”.

Mrs May takes to the stage at the Conservative Conference in Birmingham today, less than 24 hours after 1,500 delegates gave a thunderous standing ovation to Boris Johnson as he branded her Brexit plans a “constitutional outrage” that would humiliate Britain.

“I passionately believe that our best days lie ahead of us and that our future is full of promise,” Mrs May will say.

“Don’t let anyone tell you we don’t have what it takes: we have everything we need to succeed.”

The crucial address comes one year, almost to the day, since her catastrophic conference speech in Manchester, where she suffered stage invasion by a comedian, a persistent cough and a collapsing backdrop.