Theresa May said she wanted to offer voters the “British dream” but the most personal speech of her premiership was overshadowed by a a P45, an incessant cough and a stage malfunction.
The Conservatives will launch an investigation into security at their party conference after a prankster waving a P45 disrupted Theresa May’s speech before being dragged from the auditorium. Police said he was accredited. The home secretary, Amber Rudd, has since declared herself “disappointed” and Downing Street has said there will be a “thorough investigation”.
A tweet from a Conservative MP, apparently seeking to dampen speculation about Theresa May’s future, has indicated that the parliamentary party is, in fact, discussing whether or not she can stay on.
For small number of MPs texting MPs asking what we thought of PM's speech (or circling above) one message: there is no vacancy at Number 10!
Had Theresa May known she was going to have a coughing fit, would she have worn a bracelet comprised of small, painted images of the Mexican reconstructionist, Frida Kahlo on her right wrist? Or is that precisely why she used that hand to cough into - so that we, the public, could see that, in 2005, she went to a blockbuster show at the Tate Modern?
A kind reading suggests that May is aware of Kahlo’s resurgence in the cultural world. Next year, the V&A will host a grand retrospective of the Mexican artist. Kahlo was also cited as a muse to Roland Mouret’s most recent collection, spring-summer 2017, and featured heavily in Etro’s pre-autumn collection. Moreover, May did wear Mouret to the party conference two years ago and, well, she is fond of the past. As to where it came from, a gift shop springs to mind, although there’s an excellent likeness on twee, hipster, online craft site, Etsy.
Either way, it’s perhaps a surprising statement for the Tory leader, not least because Kahlo was a communist, married to artist Diego Riviera, a prominent figure in the Mexican Communist party, and a close friend of Leon Trotsky. She also spent her career concerned with the plight of the impoverished, our connectedness to self, nature and the universe, the relationship between pain and identity, and imagined, one day, we could live in a classless society.
Referring to the apparent ease with which a prankster got to within yards of the government’s most senior figures during May’s speech, the home secretary, Amber Rudd, has said she was “very disappointed”. She told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme:
I am going to continue to follow what’s going on, it’s in the hands of the police and we will make sure we look carefully into how it happened to make sure it doesn’t again.
Simon Brodkin, who was arrested and released soon afterwards, was accredited to attend the conference, Greater Manchester police said. Chief superintendent John O’Hare said officers would be “reviewing the accreditation process with the Conservative party” as a result.
A Downing Street source has told the Press Association: “We expect that there will be a thorough investigation into what happened.” The source declined to discuss the prime minister’s security arrangements.
The Conservative MP, George Freeman, the head of the prime minister’s policy board, told the agency:
There should be some very serious questions, that could have been a terrorist. My understanding is he’s a comedian, he’s often used by the BBC, and questions will be asked about how he was allowed to get that close.
Shaun Hinds, the chief executive of Manchester Central, said that “conference security protocols were immediately enacted resulting in the individual being quickly ejected from the venue and handed over” to police.
The former cabinet minister, Ken Clarke, urged Boris Johnson to “go away and try and find out something about foreign policy and try to be foreign secretary”, accusing him of turning the party’s conference into “mayhem”.
Clarke said of Johnson:
He made a very disloyal speech just before she was due to make the Florence speech. He made a very disloyal speech just before this conference, and he’s turned the conference into mayhem.
And anybody looking in from outside, I’m not surprised they’re somewhat puzzled at the state of the government.
Johnson has sought to paint a picture of unity in public.
Great job by the PM today putting housing at the heart of renewing the British dream
This live blog is reopening and we’ve been getting some more reaction to the prime minister’s conference speech.
In an apparent attempt to quieten down questions among his parliamentary colleagues about Theresa May’s future as the party’s leader, Tory MP Mark Pritchard amplified questions among his parliamentary colleagues about Theresa May’s future as the party’s leader. Pritchard, who was appointed as one of May’s trade envoys last month, also praised her for battling through the unexpected interruptions.
For small number of MPs texting MPs asking what we thought of PM's speech (or circling above) one message: there is no vacancy at Number 10!
The announcement that energy prices were to be capped drew praise from the former Conservative minister, John Penrose, who said May was “absolutely right to protect households from rip-off energy bills with an energy price cap”. Penrose, who helped organise a cross-party campaign to cap energy bills for 17 million families that had the backing of 76 Tories, said May must back a relative price cap - a maximum mark-up between each energy firm’s best deal and its default tariff.
Labour’s shadow business and energy secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, said May’s energy price plans dd not go far enough. “It is unclear if responsibility for action has again been passed to Ofgem, with no commitment on when or how action will be taken. Yet again, the country is left confused about whether the prime minister will honour her election promise.”
The energy cap announcement received a cooler response from the Confederation of British Industry, whose director general, Carolyn Fairbairn, called it an “example of state intervention that misses the mark”. But she welcomed the prime minister’s words on how to meet the “profound challenges and opportunities of Brexit and creating a fairer and more prosperous economy”, saying she had “recognised the fundamental importance of good government working in partnership with responsible business to improve lives”.
The industry regulator, Ofgem, said it shared the government’s “concern that the market is not working for all consumers”.
The Scottish National Party’s Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, said: “Theresa May’s speech, beset with problems and protests, proved the ‘British dream’ is a Tory nightmare for families and communities hit by years of endless austerity, cuts and low economic growth.”
The chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, Alison Garnham, said: “Despite its billing, despite all the slogans on the stage, this was not really a speech about aspiration and building a country that works for everyone. “To do that the Prime Minister should have directly addressed UK poverty, one of the ‘burning injustices’ which she spoke about last year.”
Theresa May said she wanted to offer voters the “British dream” but the most personal speech of her premiership was overshadowed by a a P45, an incessant cough and a stage malfunction.
The Conservatives will launch an investigation into security at their party conference after a prankster waving a P45 disrupted Theresa May’s speech before being dragged from the auditorium.
Health groups have praised Theresa May’s decision to overhaul the system of organ donation in England in order to increase the number of livers, kidneys and other body parts available for transplant patients.
In future people in England will have to opt out of organ donation – a system called presumed consent – rather than opt in as they do under the current system. Wales brought in a presumed consent system in December 2015 and that has led to more organs than before being retrieved and thus more lives being extended or saved, doctors say.
Under the system May wants it is automatically presumed that someone will donate their organs upon their death unless they opt out. Currently people in England opt in by signing on the organ donor register.
Gordon Brown tried to make the same switch in 2008 when he was in No 10 but in the end did not press ahead with the plan after some doctors warned such a change could create difficulties for those treating patients near the end of their lives.
The prime minister’s announcement follows a sustained campaign in favour of presumed consent by the Daily Mirror – not a newspaper that Tory premiers usually take seriously.
“The decision to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation in England is excellent news,” said Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the chair of the British Medical Association.
“The BMA has lobbied and campaigned tirelessly on this for many years and [it] has the potential to save many lives. It is important that the new process is well publicised to ensure the public are fully aware of and understand this important change. The health service must also have the resources, as well as facilities, to ensure transplant procedures can be performed when they are needed.”
Theresa May is not the first to reach for a cough lozenge during an important speech; Hillary Clinton did the same during her presidential campaign.
Despite Philip Hammond’s proffered remedy, cough drops may not be the way to go when tackling a coughing attack. Rather, it seems, it is all in the breathing.
Dr Konstantin Buteyko, a breathing disorders expert, devised a “stop cough” method in the 1950s that is still advocated today.
According to his tried and tested technique, at the first sign of a tickle you should put your hand over your mouth and swallow, keeping your hand over your mouth throughout.
Next, take a small breath in and out through your mouth, and pinch your nose if you can. Hold your breath for a count of five or 10. Leave your hand over your mouth and release your nose if pinching it.
Then, take small, careful breaths through the nose, all the time resisting the urge to cough. Take slow steady breaths in and out of your nose until the tickle has subsided.
Reaching for the water may lead only to temporary relief, as May’s speech proved.
This method may not make for flattering photographs up there on the stage in Manchester. But as the P45 picture is probably the money shot, that is arguably an irrelevance.
ITV’s Robert Peston has written a Facebook post about the speech. Here is an excerpt.
Frustratingly for her it is not her “British Dream” which will lodge in the public consciousness – but the chaotic theatre, which also involved letters tumbling from the campaign slogan stuck on the wall behind her (“Building a country that works for everyone”, though apparently with insipid adhesive).
I am told that after she left the stage, the prime minister hugged her husband and wept. No one would blame her.
PS Downing Street insists “her crying is a total lie, 100% untrue”. I am obviously happy to report that.
The Conservative have confirmed they will review the accreditation arrangements for conference. A spokesperson said:
In light of the arrest during the prime minister’s speech we are working with the police to review the accreditation process and security arrangements for party conference.
And this is what CCHQ is saying in its briefing note about the draft legislation for an energy price cap.
The energy market hasn’t been working for ordinary consumers. For millions of families, energy bills are far too high – in particular, those on “standard variable tariffs” (SVTs)
What we are doing is publishing a draft bill next week that would give Ofgem powers to impose a cap on SVTs over the whole market. Ofgem are expected to come out with their plans for how they will safeguard customers on the poorest value tariffs. If their plans do not go far enough, this power will enable them to go further.
Our plan still preserves the workings of the competitive market and the principle of arms-length regulation. It will be up to Ofgem to set the level of the cap. There should be savings for customers on bad deals, but enough headroom for there still to be a reason for people to shop around. And this measure is intended to be temporary, while innovations such as smart meters arrive and enable the market to work properly for everyone.
This is what the CCHQ is saying in a briefing note about the £2bn for affordable housing announced by Theresa May.
We will provide £2bn more funding for the affordable housing programme.
This will increase the government’s 2016-21 affordable homes programme to £9.1bn. This extra £2bn will lever in a total investment of £5bn (public and private) in new housing.
In those areas of the country where rents are high, we will allow bids for social rent, which are further below market rents.
With a typical subsidy of £80,000, £2bn investment can supply around 25,000 homes available for social rent. This compares with an additional 6,800 social rent homes delivered in 2015-16.
To help encourage more investment in social housing, we will create a stable financial environment by setting a long-term rent deal for councils and housing associations. This will give them the security and certainty to invest and build more.
We will encourage councils as well as housing associations to bid for this funding so that we can deliver a new generation of council homes in this country.
Institute of Directors says party conference season 'a big let-down' for business
The Institute of Directors says the entire party conference season has been “one big letdown” for business. This is from Stephen Martin, the IoD’s director general.
I think it’s fair to say that this year’s party conference season has been one big letdown for businesses across the UK. On the one hand you have a Labour party which has decided that business is the bad guy, on the other you have a Conservative party which talks about the importance of markets, but then tinkers around with help to buy and energy price caps. What are business leaders meant to make of it all?
At this pivotal moment in this country’s history, far too little time has been spent explaining the plan for how we leave the European Union, or debating how we tackle the long-term challenges that face our economy.
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