Luckless May centre stage in tragic farce
Gordon Rayner, Steven Swinford
Kate Mccann
THERESA MAY’S political future was last night hanging in the balance after her disastrous conference speech left her feeling “extremely distraught”.
The Prime Minister had hoped the speech would effectively relaunch her premiership and kickstart a Conservative revival, with policies to cap energy prices and spend billions on new council houses.
She also pledged to reform organ donation laws so that patients are automatically signed up to be donors when they die, in a move medical experts claimed could save more than 500 lives a year.
But the policies were largely overshadowed after a professional prankster walked on stage unchallenged to hand her a fake P45, and a heavy cold left the Prime Minister almost unable to finish the speech following a series of coughing fits. The speech ended with letters falling from the slogan behind the stage and the Prime Minister being comforted by her husband.
It capped a disastrous conference week for the Conservatives with the annual gathering in Manchester dominated by a simmering Cabinet row over Boris Johnson’s determination not to allow Brexit to be derailed.
In an article for today’s Daily Telegraph, Nick Timothy, Mrs May’s former chief of staff, says that the blame for this week’s events must lie with the entire Government. “This week was the opportunity for the Tories to reset and show the country not only that they understand the need for change, but that they have the policies to change people’s lives for the better. Unfortunately, they failed to take their opportunity,” he writes.
“This is partly down to bad luck, because the Prime Minister’s speech – if anybody heard it – contained a consistent argument. But where was the policy earlier in the week? Where was the plan to make our economy truly dynamic?”
Lord Tebbit, the former Conserva- tive cabinet minister, said that the speech “began to look like a tragedy”, and that while she had shown the courage that leadership demands, luck – another essential – had deserted her. He said she must now trust her own instincts, rather than those of advisers “lacking in experience and ability”, to get her through the months ahead.
One of the recurring themes of Mrs May’s speech was the “British dream” of a great meritocracy where anyone can achieve their full potential and every generation is better off than the last. It was designed to appeal to young voters who sided with Labour at the last election.
In the wake of June’s election result, many senior Conservatives have been keen to avoid a leadership challenge for fear that it would lead to a bitter row over Brexit policy and undermine talks with the EU.
There is also growing concern that a leadership contest could ultimately lead to a general election in which the Conservatives would be ill-prepared to tackle a surge for Jeremy Corbyn’s
Labour Party. Mrs May said before the conference that she was determined to fight the 2022 general election. However, while the Prime Minister was supported publicly by her Cabinet, privately Tory MPS said she was “limping like a broken horse into oblivion” and suggested that talks about her departure will have to be “accelerated”.
A Cabinet minister said she was “extremely distraught” last night and allies were hoping that she will bounce back to lead talks with the EU next year.
In the speech, Mrs May apologised for the election defeat and spoke passionately about Brexit. She said: “We did not get the victory we wanted because our national campaign fell short. It was too scripted, too presidential, and it allowed the Labour Party to paint us as the voice of continuity, when the public wanted to hear a message of change. I hold my hands up for that. I take responsibility. I led the campaign. And I am sorry.”
Mrs May’s apology was well received in the conference hall, but it emerged last night that as many as 30 Tory MPS are thought to be prepared to sign a letter calling for the Prime Minister to resign, with one drawing comparisons to Labour’s “sleepwalk into defeat” under Gordon Brown.
A senior Conservative source said: “The public are far more brutal about these things. They will see a Prime Minister who looks ill, with the stage set falling down. It will compound many of the views that they already have for her. It should be a wake-up call at the moment.
“There were great policies in her speech, and nobody will be talking about them. We’ve not just been unlucky here, there have been some real, real failings.”
Mrs May vowed to “dedicate my premiership” to solving the housing crisis and reviving plans for a cap on energy prices for 17 million households.
Her pledge to “end rip-off energy prices once and for all” is understood to have prompted concern from Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary.
Downing Street sources insisted that Mrs May was “happy” with how the speech had gone, blaming a “conference cold” and the combined effect of 28 broadcast interviews and 19 receptions for the croaky voice which repeatedly forced her to stop.