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Radio 4 PM

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said the government was now "carefully" looking into what she described as a "disappointing" stunt during the prime minister's speech, when a protester handed Theresa May a fake P45.

Quizzed by Eddie Mair for �鶹������ҳ��� Radio 4's PM programme, the home secretary said there was a "tremendous warmth" for the prime minister from those in the conference hall as she succumbed to regular coughing fits throughout her speech.

The full ten-minute interview will be broadcast during the PM programme, Radio 4, at 5pm.

The World at One
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More from Katie Perrior, who was Theresa May's director of communications, on the prime minister's voice.

"She does suffer from this, so it wouldn't be the first time she suffers from this situation - she ploughs on... she's the ultimate public servant," Ms Perrior told �鶹������ҳ��� Radio 4's World at One programme.

She said Mrs May will not want sympathy for her speech. Instead she made a few good gags and explained what she was in politics for, she said.

The Conservatives say they will publish a draft bill next week to empower regulator Ofgem to impose a cap on standard variable tariffs.

Around 17m customers are on such tariffs.

It will be up to Ofgem to set the level of the cap and the measure is intended to be temporary.

The party says the roll-out of smart meters will help to address what it sees as market failures in the longer term.

Downing Street say the energy cap announced by Theresa May will apply to all standard variable rates.

A spokesman said the government has written to the regulator Ofgem and is waiting for a reply but ministers "want to show a real declaration of intent".

A draft bill has been written and the legislative process will begin next week.

Asked what the government would do if Ofgem responded with a proposal the spokesman said they'd consider it "if the destination is the same and Ofgem can do it more quickly".

Conservative Party chairman Patrick McLoughlin has said there will be an inquiry into how a prankster was allowed to disrupt Theresa May's speech.

He tells the Daily Telegraph he believed there was "sufficient security" around the PM but does not comment on how a man was able to hand her a mock P45.

According to the paper's Christopher Hope, the MP would not say whether he was considering his own position over the incident.

The World at One
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�鶹������ҳ��� political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Theresa May's speech was "awkward - at times excruciating", coming amid an extraordinary set of circumstances with the prankster and the struggles with a cough.

"It was an ordeal rather than a triumphant return today," she said, adding that the closing conference address was meant to mark a big return, with the PM saying "sorry" about the election results and with some statements on important issues, like organ donation.

Laura says the fear at Number 10 will be that it was "completely overshadowed because no-one will remember anything from the speech other than she had to struggle through it".

The prime minister came close to losing her voice several time during her speech to the party conference in Manchester.

Sources close to the PM have said that the Mrs May got the "conference cold" early, and that many interviews and meetings have taken their toll on her voice.

They say the prankster who interrupted her speech has been arrested for a breach of the peace and there will be a thorough investigation of security.

The "conference cold" strikes down many a party member and journalist at this time of year, after too many early mornings and late nights.

The World at One
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Pressed by the �鶹������ҳ���'s John Pienaar on whether sympathy will be enough to sustain Theresa May in office, Jeremy Hunt says what will sustain her is a "sense of duty" and the knowledge that she is always someone who will do the "right thing for our country."

The World at One
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Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt also praises Theresa May's "bravery" for making it through her speech despite her "horrible" cough.

Speaking on Radio 4's World at One, he hopes the public will associate with the PM's difficulties as they "go to work with coughs and colds but they don't do it with the eyes of the world on them".

The prime minister "came across as very human, perhaps not in the way she hoped," he adds.

Image source, Reuters

Simon Brodkin is an English comedian more commonly known by his TV character name Lee Nelson.

He has a reputation for carrying out pranks at big public events – so handing the prime minister a P45 was far from his first.

His most famous interruption came at Glastonbury in 2015 when he ran onstage as Kanye West was performing. Brodkin tried to join in, but was soon escorted off by security.

He pulled a similar stunt on The X Factor in 2014, running onstage as the Stereo Kicks were playing. But, again, stage management put a stop to it.

More political moves have been played by Brodkin in recent years. These include throwing US dollar bills over former Fifa president Sepp Blatter during the football organisation’s bidding scandal and handing out Nazi golf balls at a Donald Trump speech.

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Former Conservative chancellor Ken Clarke says Boris Johnson should "go away and find out something about foreign policy and try to be foreign secretary".

He told �鶹������ҳ��� 5Live's Emma Barnett that “I'm not going to join all the Boris bashing which he's brought on himself” - but he returned to the subject several times during the interview.

In his first comments, he criticised the foreign secretary for making two speeches which he called “disloyal”, he said.

The World at One
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Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt praised Theresa May for continuing with her keynote conference address, despite battling a cough.

"I thought she recovered very well from that... and to do it with the eyes of the nation on you - that was something else."

"This was supposed to be the speech where Theresa May relaunched her flailing premiership but it only confirmed her failure," says Labour shadow minister Jon Trickett.

"She admitted Britain faces great problems but all she has to offer are watered down versions of Labour's ideas, reheated policies, and empty promises."

He adds: "Rather than apologising to her party, Theresa May should have taken the opportunity to apologise to the public for a record of failure for the many and left Britain worse off.

"Conference season has shown us that the Conservatives are yesterday’s party. Labour is setting the agenda."

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"I don't think I've seen a speech like this," says �鶹������ҳ��� assistant political editor Norman Smith.

Some of those watching wondered if the PM would get to the end of it. "Her voice really seemed on the verge of going completely."

Conservative Party members in the hall rallied to her during the problems, but it was hard to tell whether it was "supportive or in sympathy", Norman adds.

But she got to the end and some will see that as a sign of her resilience and guts, others as a metaphor for "her political fragility, her vulnerability".