Theresa May, Coughing and Caught by a Prankster, Endures a Speech to Forget<br />Certainly, there was support from activists outside the hall, including one party member, Joe Porter, who said<br />that Mrs. May’s determination to finish her speech illustrated her “professionalism,” adding, “We are all human beings; we all get coughs.”<br />Another party member, Enoch Manto Lieu, said that the episode might help humanize Mrs. May, who has<br />been mocked by critics as “Maybot,” a reference to her robotic, scripted answers to questions.<br />Spare a thought for those of us still to deliver our conference speech and now fretting about all the things that could go wrong #SNP17<br />Professor Bale said that it was possible that, should Mrs. May keep her job for longer than expected, she might manage<br />to revive her image — as Mr. Corbyn did after struggling for a significant time after he won his party’s leadership.<br />“Before the speech, most people would have bet on her coming out of the conference season alive, although the sharks were already circling,”<br />said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, referring to potential rivals for Mrs. May’s job.<br />The Conservative Party conference in Manchester was the first since Mrs. May gambled by calling<br />a general election in June, a political blunder that cost her party its majority.<br />A prankster hands Prime Minister Theresa May a job dismissal notice during her speech a the Conservative Party’s annual conference.<br />MANCHESTER, England — Just when Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain needed a rousing, commanding<br />speech to restore authority over her warring Conservative Party, she endured a nightmare.
