Briton’s talk beset by coughs, prank

MANCHESTER, England — British Prime Minister Theresa May promised Wednesday to restore the “British Dream” in a speech that saw her plagued by a cough and interrupted by a prankster, while parts of the backdrop fell down as she was speaking.

In a Conservative Party conference address, May vowed economic help for struggling families for whom “the British Dream that has inspired generations of Britons feels increasingly out of reach.”

But a speech intended to strengthen her tenuous grasp on leadership was interrupted by a comedian who handed May an unemployment form. The party said it was reviewing security after the breach.

The Conservatives already were in a sour mood after June’s snap election — called three years early in hopes of bolstering the party’s majori- ty in Parliament — saw May’s government reduced to a minority administration. The result has left May struggling to unite a government divided on plans to leave the European Union and on other issues.

During her speech, May struggled with a cough and a hoarse voice that forced her to pause repeatedly. Midway through the speech, a man walked up and handed May a P45 — the form given to people being laid off in Britain.

As he was taken away by security, the man — identified in media reports as comedian Simon Brodkin — said “Boris told me to do it.” He was presumably referring to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who is seen as being after May’s job.

As May neared the end of her televised speech, two letters fell off the slogan on the wall behind her — “Building a country that works for everyone.”