May booed and heckled by party members during speech on Chequers plan
THERESA MAY was booed at her own party conference in an unprecedented backlash against her much-criticised Chequers plan.
The Conservative Association chairman and Tory members heckled the Prime Minister as she referenced her Brexit proposals in a speech.
She was also denied a standing ovation as she left the closed meeting of the National Conservative Convention (NCC), the most senior body of the party’s voluntary wing. It is believed to be the first time a prime minister has not received the traditional round of applause at the end of the two-hour grassroots event, which kicks off the conference every year.
John Strafford, the head of the grassroots movement the Conservative Campaign for Democracy, gave a speech in which he said Mrs May would be perceived as a “dictator” if she didn’t “chuck Chequers”.
Speaking at a fringe meeting, he said: “If the Prime Minister pursues her goal of the Chequers agreement in the face of the 17 million who voted to leave the European Union, in the face of a large number of her members of parliament, in the face of a sizeable majority of party members, then she will be showing all the characteristics of a dictator. If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it is a duck!”
Mr Strafford, who was among 500 Tories at the national convention meeting on Sunday, which was not open to the press, confirmed that Mrs May was booed when she mentioned Chequers.
“It was a wave of grumbling really,” he said. “The party leader normally gets a standing ovation at the end of the meeting, but after the Q and As, Mrs May just walked off and that was it. This is my 55th party conference and I’ve never seen that happen before.”
Another delegate who did not wish to be named said: “There was a boo when she mentioned Chequers. It was a bit embarrassing.”
A senior Tory MP commented: “Eden wasn’t booed after Suez. Iain Duncan-smith was given 19 standing ovations just weeks before he lost a vote of no confidence. Even John Major wasn’t booed during Maastricht. For Mrs May to be booed over Chequers is unprecedented.”
At a fringe meeting on party reform yesterday morning, where speakers included Mr Strafford, Ben Bradley MP and the MEP David Campbell Bannerman, 100 delegates voted for “chucking Chequers” compared with one who wanted to keep the plan.
A spokesman for Mrs May denied that she was booed and described the meeting as “warm and constructive”, pointing out that the Prime Minister was given a standing ovation before her speech.