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World Europe

Why was Theresa May dancing?

'Dancing Queen' Theresa May shimmies on stage to defend Brexit - and her job



Image Credit: AFP

The British Prime Minister Theresa May swept onto the stage at the Conservative Party conference on Wednesday and made light of some of her previous speech blunders.

As she danced on to the stage, to Abba's 1976 hit "Dancing Queen", a throwback to her dancing antics during her visit to Africa in the summer, May started the night off with a bit of a stand-up show about little hiccups in her previous keynote moment. 

Watch her entrance here: 

When she finished dancing, she said:

“Now I must say you do have to excuse me if I do cough during the speech. I’ve been up all night supergluing the backdrop.” A line she said in reference to:

  1. The persistent cough that kept interrupting her speech during last year's conference.
  2. The letter “F” falling down from the backdrop from last year's speech.

May trying to contain her coughing fit with a glass of water

She used the rest of her time attacking divisions in the Labour party, announcing a new cancer strategy and declaring an end to austerity policies.

May's dance moves quickly became a talking point on social media. Some people praised the 62-year-old prime minister for her self-depreciating humour. Like the Swedish Ambassador to the UK.

While others claimed that she had ruined Abba for them.

A few enterprising tweeters penned new Brexit-themed lyrics to the song. Some of May's critics quipped that Abba's "SOS" single may have been a better choice.

The Liberal Democrats - who think Brexit a disaster - responded to the jig by tweeting: "When Brexit is in chaos but your only answer is Dancing Queen."

 

-With inputs from Washington Post

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