May’s moment ruined after she fails to cough up for voice coach
THERESA MAY was accused of “shocking preparation” after a persistent cough – which left her struggling to talk – derailed her address.
The Prime Minister is understood to have given 28 interviews and spoken at 19 events during the conference in Manchester despite battling a cough, prompting concerns that she may have overused her voice.
Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor who guided Tony Blair through many crucial speeches, suggested doctors could have helped prevent her struggles while a voice coach said Mrs May should have tried to save herself for the main event.
After the speech Mrs May sought to make light of her difficulties by tweeting a picture of a copy of her address and her ministerial red briefcase next to numerous packets of cough sweets and a bottle of cough syrup with “coughs” as the caption.
Mr Campbell said that Mr Blair had “got through two big speeches with flu” as he criticised Mrs May’s preparation. He said: “There will be a lot of sympathy re her cough but it is also shocking preparation. Doctors can sort for an hour!”
Meanwhile, Alan Woodhouse, a professional voice coach, told The Daily Telegraph that anyone with a cough or a cold who needed to deliver a speech needed to “be wise before the event”.
“Otherwise you are going to make yourself a lot of trouble,” he said.
Mr Woodhouse likened the need to take care of your voice to taking action to deal with a bad back as he suggested Mrs May should appoint her own vocal coach. He said: “She needs to find someone who she trusts to carry around with her as a vocal coach. It is like a sports trainer. Sports people have coaches, someone taking care of them.”
Mr Woodhouse insisted that while there was no failsafe way to protect someone’s voice when they were ill there had been warning signs for Mrs May earlier in the week.
He said: “There are no total safeguards – if you have got a cough, you have got a cough. She sounded very strained when I heard her on the radio on Tuesday.
“I don’t know what her vocal regime is but voices need looking after, especially if they are not feeling good. It would be what you could do beforehand to save your voice before you come to that major moment.”
PR experts warned that the viral video of the Conservatives’ slogan literally falling apart behind Mrs May could be a defining moment.
Pete Davies, the managing director of Sugar PR, a reputation specialist in Manchester, said: “It’s a watershed moment for her image and I’m afraid to say it’s a clip that will last a lifetime. It’s the simplicity of the symbolism that makes it so powerful.
“The British public are forgiving of anybody except politicians. I feel sorry for her personally because it appears that she’s been let down by someone who skimped on the superglue.”
‘It’s a watershed moment for her image and it’s a clip that will last a lifetime. The symbolism is so powerful.’