Theresa May tells her ministers to 'shape up' and deliver for voters
2 min read
Theresa May will today tell her warring government it is time to "shape up" and start delivering for ordinary people.
In her speech closing the Conservative party conference she will call on her colleagues to “fulfil our duty to Britain” and unite to “give the country the Government that it needs”.
Mrs May will also insist she has no intention of quitting as Prime Minister because she has the "resolve and determination" necessary to lead the country.
Cabinet tensions over Brexit have regularly spilled over in recent weeks, with Boris Johnson in particular appearing to challenge the Prime Minister's authority.
But in a clear attempt to wrest back the political initiative, Mrs May will say: "Let us do our duty by Britain. Let us shape up and give the country the Government it needs.
"For beyond this hall, beyond the gossip pages of the newspapers, and beyond the streets, corridors and meeting rooms of Westminster, life continues – the daily lives of ordinary working people go on. And they must be our focus today.
"Not worrying about our job security, but theirs. Not addressing our concerns, but the issues, the problems, the challenges, that concern them. Not focusing on our future, but on the future of their children and their grandchildren – doing everything we can to ensure their tomorrow will be better than our today.
"That is what I am in politics for. To make a difference. To change things for the better. To hand on to the next generation a country that is stronger, fairer and more prosperous."
Pressure on Mrs May has been mounting after her disastrous decision to hold a snap election in June, which led to the Tories losing their Commons majority.
Speculation that she could quit has been rife, but the Prime Minister will say: "It has never been my style to hide from a challenge, to shrink from a task, to retreat in the face of difficulty, to give up and turn away.
"And it is when tested the most that we reach deep within ourselves and find that our capacity to rise to the challenge before us may well be limitless.”
However, in an embarrassment for Number 10 last night, it emerged that section of Mrs May's speech is almost identical to one delivered by actor Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlett in an episode of US political drama The West Wing.
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