BBC News Channel

Former minister John Penrose, who has campaigned for lower bills, says the planned energy price cap differs from that proposed by Labour's Ed Miliband in 2013.

"He was proposing a price freeze," Mr Penrose tells BBC News.

"He changed his mind and modified it later on."

The Conservative MP argues that similar proposals by Labour and the SNP show "there's a really good cross-party level of support for what I hope will be the PM's triumph".

He adds: "Short-term, you've got to have a cap to protect people who are being ripped off but in the medium-term, you've got to make sure that the market works for customers... That's something that will take a while."

Daily Mail, external:

How did prankster get on stage? Joker makes mockery of Tory conference security as he hands Theresa May her 'P45' and says: 'Boris told me to'

Daily Mirror:, external

Theresa May speech fallout live: Police launch security review as P45 prankster sabotages Conservative Party Conference 2017

Daily Telegraph:, external

Conservative Party Conference: Theresa May handed P45 in major security breach

The Sun:, external

PM’s pitch to woo young voters with ‘personal mission’ to ‘restore hope’ to a new generation

New York Times:, external

Theresa May, coughing and caught by a prankster, endures a speech to forget

Financial Times, external:

Mishaps mar May fightback at Tory conference

BuzzFeed, external:

Theresa May's conference speech was a disaster.

Image source, PA

Earlier, the BBC's Norman Smith wondered whether the images from Theresa May's speech would stick in the imagination like some other accidents to befall party leaders, such as Neil Kinnock.

In 1983, then-Labour leader Neil Kinnock was taking a walk along Brighton beach in party conference season with wife Glenys, and slipped after being taken unawares by the fast-moving tide.

Chris Mason
Political Correspondent

Image source, PA

It was like your worst anxiety dream, playing out for real.

Imagine it, for yourself, right now.

Imagine you were the prime minister today.

You are on stage, your back already firmly wedged against the wall of political failure, having voluntarily taken your party into a general election in which you went backwards.

You start with utter candour about it: "I am sorry."

And then, slowly, over the next 40 minutes or so, fate conspires to render every word you're uttering secondary to what everyone will remember.

These are moments steeped in choreography.

Reporting from the conference floor for Radio 5 live, I had been briefed on the entrance the prime minister would arrive via, and the one she would walk towards with her husband at the end.

The pre-speech feelgood video, complete with the type of motivational music you hear in gyms, screamed optimism and achievement.

Here is what is meant to happen next.

A party leader does their thing, the audience applauds and ovates enthusiastically; leaping regularly to their feet.

And then afterwards, glutinous praise oozes out of ministerial mouths, towering praise on the boss.

But first the heckler, then the persistent frog in her throat, and then the F off the slogan behind her tumbling to the floor.

The hall willed her to get to the end; it was impossible, standing watching, not to feel sorry for her, on a human level.

Standing ovations were lavishly delivered -- just to give Mrs May time to clear her throat.

But willing someone struggling to get to the end of a speech is different from wanting them to carry on as your leader.

Immediately afterwards, in public, her cabinet rallied to her defence; her travails a metaphor for her central theme; battling on.

But critics will turn that imagery on its head; as symbolic of someone who has run out of prime ministerial puff.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

There has never been a speech quite like it. Even before she took to the platform Theresa May was fragile - politically, and in terms of her health, she has been struggling with a cold all week.

But the awkwardness of watching her cough her way through what was meant to be a fightback was intense.

Ovations were engineered by the cabinet to give her time to try to clear her throat.

The stage manager at the conference venue was continually handing her cough sweets to try to get through.

A prankster handing her a P45, interrupting her speech, ministers looking on in horror, trying to get him to leave before he was eventually bundled away in a huge media scrum, then handcuffed and surrounded by police.

At moments it felt like it would be impossible for the prime minister to carry on with the speech, but she made it, just.

But for how long can she continue in her job?

Read more from Laura.

"This was the speech of a brave prime minister struggling on, while her disloyal cabinet colleagues openly plot against her," says Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable.

"Rows over Brexit have left Theresa May only able to tinker around the edges of the great challenges the country faces, from the housing crisis to the future of the NHS.

“The conference season has shown both the Conservatives and Labour are bitterly divided, with the more moderate factions overwhelmed by their ideological extremes."

A Conservative spokesman said: “In light of the arrest during the prime minister's speech we are working with the police to review the accreditation process and security arrangements for party conference.”

Image source, AFP

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the prime minister delivered a “brilliant speech”, adding she “had a cold but did a fantastic job of getting over a crucial message”.

Describing the end of conference address as "inspiring”, he added that the “most important thing is that she set out her vision of how to renew the British dream”.

The prankster who handed a P45 to Theresa May during her closing conference speech had "legitimate accreditation", Greater Manchester Police Chief Superintendent John O'Hare has said.

In a statement, he commented:

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said everyone will want to know how a prankster got so close to Theresa May during her end of conference speech.

"We are all going to want to know exactly how that happened," he told the BBC, following the incident which involved a man handing the PM a P45.

Quizzed about the fact the speech was marred by Mrs May's faltering voice, the prankster, and letters falling from the backdrop slogan behind her, Mr Hunt commented: "Remember what she said in her speech: People judge leaders by how they react in adversity."

The Spectator's Isabel Hardman writes:, external "Theresa May is not the first political leader to try to pitch the idea of a ‘British Dream’ when most British people aren’t even sure if it exists in our culture.

"Michael Howard spoke about it in 2004, while Ed Miliband adopted the ‘Promise of Britain’ temporarily while he was trying to find his feet as Labour leader."

The CBI has some praise for the prime minister's speech, saying she has "recognised the fundamental importance of good government working in partnership with responsible business to improve lives".

Director general Carolyn Fairbairn said: “The prime minister’s praise for the risk takers, innovators and entrepreneurs and business, large and small, was refreshing and important to hear.

“But markets are not perfect and the UK’s business community recognises the power of effective state intervention."

However, while she welcomed government action on housing, Ms Fairbairn described an energy price cap as "an example of state intervention that misses the mark.

"Market-wide price caps are not the best answer."