Skip to main content
Support Us

Coughing Fit and Prankster Mar Theresa May’s Speech, But She Didn’t Joke About Dead Libyans, So That’s Something

British Prime Minister Theresa May stumbled through a speech on Wednesday, beset by a coughing fit, a failing voice, and the intervention of a satirist.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04: British Prime Minister Theresa May struggles with a cough as she delivers her keynote speech to delegates and party members on the last day of the Conservative Party Conference at Manchester Central on October 4, 2017 in Manchester, England. The prime minister rallied members and called for the party to "shape up" and "go forward together". Theresa May also announced a major programme to build council houses and a cap on energy prices. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04: British Prime Minister Theresa May struggles with a cough as she delivers her keynote speech to delegates and party members on the last day of the Conservative Party Conference at Manchester Central on October 4, 2017 in Manchester, England. The prime minister rallied members and called for the party to "shape up" and "go forward together". Theresa May also announced a major programme to build council houses and a cap on energy prices. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images) Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images

Four months after an election debacle that cost her a majority in Parliament, British Prime Minister Theresa May stumbled through a speech at her Conservative Party’s conference in Manchester on Wednesday, beset by a coughing fit, a failing voice, and the intervention of a satirist who interrupted her address to hand her a prank notice that she had been fired.

https://twitter.com/needleholeshop/status/915537412213833729

May had hoped to convince members of her party and the British public that the United Kingdom is in safe hands as she leads it out of the European Union, but the Conservative conference instead highlighted the disarray at the top level of a government still deeply divided over Brexit.

The comedian who handed May the fake P45 form (the British equivalent of a pink slip), before being ejected from the hall, shouted that he had been put up to the stunt by Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, who is widely believed to have his eyes on toppling or succeeding May.

Later in the speech, the set behind May further sabotaged her, as the letter F fell off a slogan promising that the Conservatives would ensure that the U.K. “works for everyone.”

During one prolonged coughing fit that forced the prime minister to halt her address, Johnson was seen being scolded by Home Secretary Amber Rudd — another possible contender for the party leadership after May — for not taking part in a standing ovation offered in sympathy by members of the cabinet.

After the speech mercifully ended, May’s bracelet was also singled out as somewhat off-message.

Earlier in the week, Johnson suffered a self-inflicted wound when he attempted to joke about the dire state of affairs in Libya during a speech to a gathering on the conference sidelines. Audio of the speech caught the foreign secretary joking that the Libyan city of Sirte could soon be a “new Dubai” once the bodies are cleared away.

https://twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/915465087745445889

Another pretender to May’s throne, “the fogeyish Old Etonian Jacob Rees-Mogg,” in the journalist Rachel Sylvester’s resonant phrase, also did some damage to his party’s public image during an encounter with a young protester at the conference. After Rees-Mogg attempted to debate the protester, left-wing activist Shabbir Lakha, the MP was thoroughly out-argued once the discussion turned to the real-world impact of Conservative policies.

IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.

What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. 

This is not hyperbole.

Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.

Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.” 

The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

Donate

IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

Donate

I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

Donate

Contact the author:

robert.mackey@theintercept.com @RobertMackey on X

Related

Latest Stories

Join The Conversation