Coughing fit, P45 prank and set woes mar May’s Tory Conference speech

Theresa May’s keynote speech was marred by a bad throat and an interruption by a comedian, as she tried to set out her vision for the "British dream".

The stakes were high for the Prime Minister to cheer up her party and show she had understood the lessons of the election, as she took to the stage for her main address.

First, she was handed a P45 by the comedian Simon Brodkin – who plays a character called Lee Nelson – and told it was from Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary.

:: As it happened: P45 prank mars PM speech

Mrs May took the disturbance in her stride, saying: "I’ll tell you who I’d like to give a P45 to and that’s Jeremy Corbyn", before the comedian was escorted out of the hall by security.

But the Prime Minister, who did a round of several dozen radio and TV interviews yesterday before attending party receptions, had a bad cough and struggled through much of the rest of her hour-long speech, her voice weakening noticeably towards the end.

The key announcement was her long-promised cap on energy bills, the Prime Minister announcing that a draft bill would be passed next week to "end rip-off energy prices once and for all".

:: What is a P45?

Also in the speech was a pledge that the Prime Minister would make housing her personal "mission" in office, and that the Government would put £2bn into affordable homes which councils and housing associations could bid for.

Mrs May began her speech with a fulsome apology for an election campaign which had been "too scripted, too presidential" and had allowed Labour to paint the Conservatives as the party of continuity rather than change.

She finished with a passage which could have been tailor-made for her unexpectedly disappointing performance. She said: "The test of a leader is how you respond when tough times come to you.

"When faced with challenge, if you emerge stronger. When confronted with adversity, if you find the will to pull through."

:: May orders Tories to ‘shape up’ for Britain

A supportive room full of activists at one point gave the Prime Minister a standing ovation, as she tried to regain her composure and an aide brought a glass of water and a lozenge.

But in more bad luck, as she finally reached the closing sections of her speech, the stage backdrop began to fall apart, with the letter "F" in the Conservative slogan "Building a Country that works for Everyone" falling off.

:: Boris Johnson: Attention seeker extraordinaire?

Mrs May said what drove her in politics was the desire to tackle injustice – whether calling the Hillsborough inquiry or getting justice for victims of child sexual abuse or helping get to the truth of what happened at Grenfell Tower.

But she defined the "British dream" for most people as the prospect that "their children will do better than themselves".

Cabinet ministers tried to put a brave face on the performance.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "Despite that nagging cough, which I’m sure made her come across as very human – in fairness, in not quite the way she’s planned it – there was some real policy substance."

But one senior Conservative MP told Sky News: "As Napoleon always asked of those promoted to General: "Are they lucky?"

"I’m not sure Theresa May is lucky. An opportunity lost and there aren’t many left."

(c) Sky News 2017: Coughing fit, P45 prank and set woes mar May’s Tory Conference speech