PM’s pitch to woo young voters with ‘personal mission’ to ‘restore hope’ to a new generation
THERESA MAY today made it her "personal mission" to win back young voters by setting out a "British dream" to rival Jeremy Corbyn.
The Prime Minister vowed to build new homes, cap energy prices and fix the broken student finance system as she gave her speech to the Tory party conference.
She also apologised for the Conservative election disaster in the speech - which was interrupted by a prankster handing her a fake P45.
Struggling to speak thanks to a bad cough, Mrs May delivered a deeply personal vision of Conservative ideology in a bid to counter claims that her Government is out of ideas.
She insisted that Labour's 70s-style socialism will do nothing to help hard-pressed workers, claiming that only the Tories can tackle market failures which leave millions struggling to get by.
But during her heartfelt speech, prankster Simon Brodkin - known as Lee Nelson - got on stage and gave her a fake P45, saying, "Boris asked me to give this to you."
As he was dragged away by security guards, he shouted: "Boris back me up please!"
In her speech, the Prime Minister made a series of heartfelt pledges including:
- Spending £2billion on new affordable housing to bring down sky-high home prices
- Capping rip-off energy prices so big firms can no longer take advantage of customers
- Reforming the university tuition fee system and freezing the maximum amount students pay
- Reviewing mental health treatments to help out the vulnerable
- Changing the law on organ donations so people will be listed as donors unless they opt out
- Listening to the public more to avoid a repeat of the snap election fiasco
- And she hit out at Jeremy Corbyn for letting antisemitism, misogyny and hatred run free in Labour
The speech was partly overshadowed by Mr Brodkin's stunt - a humiliating failure for police and security guards, who had put up a ring of steel around the conference centre to stop the event being mobbed by protesters.
Shortly afterwards, Mrs May - who has had a cough all week - was struggling to speak when Philip Hammond reached up to her and handed her a cough drop.
She then said: "I hope you noticed that - the Chancellor giving something away for free."
And in yet another embarrassing blunder, a letter fell off the slogan written on the stage's backdrop.
The whole speech was an attempt to convince voters that Mrs May is committed to leading the Government and driving through widespread social change.
The PM listed a number of key policies and ideas which motivate her - repeatedly saying, "That's what I'm in this for."
Towards the start of the speech, Mrs May admitted it was her fault the Tories lost their majority, telling party members: "I am sorry."
The Prime Minister announced a radical plan to spend £2billion on building hundreds of thousands of new homes in order to reduce the pressure on house prices.
And she also finally unveiled the long-promised cap on energy prices to help out struggling consumers.
She began her speech by admitting that capitalism is no longer working for many Brits, saying: "The British dream that inspired generations is now increasingly out of reach."
Mrs May then directly apologised for the failure of the Tories' disastrous election campaign.
She said: "We did not get the victory we wanted because our national campaign fell short.
"It was too scripted. Too presidential. And it allowed the Labour party to paint us as the voice of continuity, when the public wanted to hear a message of change.
"I hold my hands up for that. I take responsibility. I led the campaign. And I am sorry."
Mrs May spoke in personal terms of her heartbreak at never having children as she vowed to help the next generation.
She said: "It's very sad for me and Philip that we were never blessed with children - it seems some things are just not meant to be.
"It has always been a great sadness to me and Philip that we were never blessed with children. It seems some things in life are just never meant to be.
"But I believe in the dream that life should be better for the next generation as much as any mother, any father, any grandparent.
"The only difference is that I have the privileged position of being able to do more than most to bring that dream to life.
"So I will dedicate my premiership to fixing this problem, to restoring hope, to renewing the British dream for a new generation of people."
Mrs May pledged to renew her leadership by returning to the social justice agenda she set out when sshe first became PM.
Listing past victories such as gay marriage and the national living wage, she said: "Never let us allow the left to pretend they have a monopoly on compassion.
"This is the good a Conservative government can do - and we should never let anyone forget it".
"This Conservative party must pledge to renew the British dream in this country once again"
"To renew that dream is my purpose in politics. The thing that drives me on. And it has never wavered through good times and hard times.
"It's about sweeping away injustice - the barriers that mean for some the British dream is increasingly out of reach."
Pledging to make the country better for workers, she vowed to "redouble our efforts to give a voice to the voiceless at every opportunity. That's what I'm in this for."
Mrs May slammed Mr Corbyn's hard-left agenda with plans to ramp up borrowing and scrap nuclear weapons.
She mocked his supporters' favourite chant as she said, "No, Jeremy Corbyn!"
And on Brexit she promised to "find a deal that works for Britain and Europe too", despite the slow progress of talks.
After the end of the speech, leading Tories praised the PM for soldiering on through illness and the prank.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he believed Mrs May's speech showed a "great sense of duty", adding she "did really well" to cope.
Scottish Tories leader Ruth Davidson added: "If ever the PM needed a metaphor for service and duty and resolution through adversity, that battling performance was it! Huge respect."
The speech ends a Tory conference which has been overshadowed by Cabinet splits after Boris Johnson challenged the PM's powers by setting out his Brexit red lines.
Mrs May urged her party to stop squabbling and start focussing on the issues that matter to ordinary people.
She said: “Beyond this hall, beyond the gossip pages of the newspapers, and beyond the streets, corridors and meeting rooms of Westminster, life continues – the daily lives of ordinary working people go on.
"And they must be our focus today.
“Not worrying about our job security, but theirs. Not addressing our concerns, but the issues, the problems, the challenges, that concern them.”
Insisting she will not throw in the towel, she added: “It has never been my style to hide from a challenge, to shrink from a task, to retreat in the face of difficulty, to give up and turn away.
"And it is when tested the most that we reach deep within ourselves and find that our capacity to rise to the challenge before us may well be limitless.”
Shortly before she began her speech, delegates watched a video showcasing Tory achievements soundtracked to You've Got The Love, by Florence and the Machine.
The PM then got a standing ovation from activists as she walked to the podium to the tune of This Is What You Came For by Calvin Harris.
After the speech business leaders praised Mrs May's commitment to free markets - but called for her to be clearer about how she will help firms out.
Adam Marshall of the British Chambers of Commerce said: "The Prime Minister said much today about her party’s record in government, but less about what concrete, practical steps the Government will take in the months ahead to support growth and investment."
Trade union boss Frances O'Grady claimed the speech was "a missed opportunity to outline the new deal for working people that Britain so desperately needs".
Jeremy Corbyn accused the PM of "taking a few of our policies and watering them down".
Throughout the four-day conference in Manchester, Mrs May has had to insist that she is backed by Boris Johnson despite his repeated interventions on Brexit.
MPs and ministers have expressed fury at the Foreign Secretary for overshadowing the party's policy agenda.
And the gathering comes a week after the energised Labour party held their own conference - where Jeremy Corbyn and his shadow ministers claimed they were ready to take power from the Tories.
