Conservative activists can’t keep their eyes open as party conference turns into snoozefest
Delegates were pictured catching 40 winks in the Birmingham symphony hall as ministers delivered their big set-pieces
THE TORY conference is the biggest event of the year for the party but some activists could not keep their eyes open.
Delegates at the get together in Birmingham were pictured dozing through speeches by Cabinet ministers keen to lay out their plans for the future.
And even some of them struggled to keep their eyes open, with Boris Johnson seen possible catching 40 winks while his boss Theresa May spoke.
Tory supporters descended on England’s second city to hear the Prime Minister speak to them for the first time since she entered Number 10.
And the media were desperate to find out more details about the Government’s Brexit strategy, more than three months since our historic vote to leave.
But the attendees didn’t seem to be enthralled, with a host of them caught on camera failing to stay awake.
One journalist reported a fringe event was disrupted by the load snores of one activist, who slept through a talk by Tory MPs.
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Tomorrow sees the keynote speech by Mrs May, after making an appearance on the main stage on Sunday afternoon.
And while that should get those in the Birmingham ICC excited, talks today by the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland Secretaries were less than box office.
There was one moment of humour, after the Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies got mixed up and said the Government would make a success of “breakfast”, rather than “Brexit”.
Other speeches today say Home Secretary Amber Rudd talk about giving extremists longer jail terms by expanding the unduly lenient sentence scheme to terror offences.
She also set out radical proposals warning businesses they could be ‘named and shamed’ into hiring more UK staff with companies forced to publish the number of migrants they employ.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon also spoke, revealing plans to expand the so-called ‘homes for heroes’ policy.
He is setting a target of 10,000 members of the armed forces getting a house through the help to buy scheme in the next year.
And Justine Greening used her first speech to conference as Education Secretary to defend the grammar school proposals, attacking Labour for being hypocrites after it was revealed many of their front bench sent their own children to private schools.