For the first time in months, Downing Street have little to worry about from today’s papers. After delivering one of her best speeches since becoming Prime Minister, Theresa May is enjoying some of the best front pages she has had since the disastrous snap election. Each paper carries photos of a happy PM dancing – with her promise to ‘end austerity’ after Brexit making the top line. The Daily Express calls on voters to ‘all dance to May’s tune’ while the Daily Mail has renamed her ‘Mamma May-a!’:
DAILY EXPRESS: Let’s all dance to May’s tune #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/WiWIgR16Fo
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
TIMES: May moves to end austerity #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/kQL8wmqnHa
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL: Mamma May A! #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/NZWPVhkrPV
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) October 3, 2018
It’s also true that Conservative MPs who had been rather downbeat about their party’s wishy-washy conference have been reassured by that speech. In it, the Prime Minister appeared optimistic and struck a completely different tone to previous speeches where she hit out at ‘citizens of nowhere’. She also managed to flesh out th conference slogan ‘opportunity for all’ by bringing it back to the achievements of her ministers. It follows that a stunt by Tory MP James Duddridge to send in his letter calling for a ‘no confidence’ vote misjudged the mood – with Tory MPs now broadly more supportive of May than they were prior to the conference.
So, how long will May’s conference boost last? Given the fact that the most difficult Brexit moments are still to come and she is yet to convince her party or the EU of her Brexit plans, it seems optimistic to think it will help her for long. However, there’s reason to think that she may want it to. The part of the speech in which May promised the end of austerity if MPs backed her on Brexit, has led to chatter that May has no plans to go come March as some MPs had hoped. That agenda was seen as something the next Tory leader could launch off. If May’s speech is anything to go by, she has hopes to deliver it rather than pass it on. But while May’s speech has certainly bought her more time, her colleagues remain convinced that a new leader is required before the next election.
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