Theresa May’s party conference speech dubbed the worst ever after a series of disasters as she tried to win back angry voters

THERESA May suffered a Tory conference nightmare yesterday as her speech was branded the worst ever.

The PM’s keynote address turned into a shambles as she was pranked, part of the set collapsed behind her and she suffered a coughing fit. One historian said: “It’s hard to think of a more diabolically disastrous speech.”

The PM’s address to close the Tories’ annual gathering was billed as her bid to win back angry voters.

But as loyal lieutenants rallied round her with sympathy, enemy Tory MPs launched a fresh bout of plotting to oust her.

The Sun can reveal that several Cabinet ministers judged Mrs May’s personal horror so serious that they rang No10 to insist she must not resign.

During the 66-minute long shambles:

•  Mrs May fall victim to TV prankster Simon Brodkin, who handed her a P45 form “from Boris’ on the stage,
• She repeatedly struggled to get her words out as a cold and dry cough robbed her of her voice,
• Several letters fell from a back drop slogan behind her as she spoke, revealing a Fawlty Towers-style crumbling set,
• Accusations flew that her speech writers had stolen a key line for the speech from the West Wing US TV series.

Loyal ministers resorted to repeatedly leaping to their feet to give the PM a series of standing ovations during her coughing fits in the hope of giving her precious seconds to recover her voice.

During one, Home Secretary Amber Rudd was caught on camera ordering still sedentary Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to his feet to join in.

Chancellor Philip Hammond even handed the PM a cough sweet at the podium, allowing her to recover enough to get to the end.

As the PM finally finished the speech to activists’ relieved cheers, husband Philip May leaped onto the stage to give her a bear hug, and overheard telling her: "I'm proud of you".

The humiliated Tory leader tried to make light of the disaster by later tweeting a snap of her cough mixtures and throat lozenges, with the single word “*coughs*”.

But one stunned minister told The Sun his reaction to her speech was: "What the f--king f--k f--k f--k. F--k."

Aides blamed her loss of voice on themselves, for having put them PM through 28 different TV interviews and 19 receptions during the previous four days.

Senior Tories demanded answers from the police and conference organisers on how the multiple shambles could have been allowed to happen.