Why was Theresa May dancing?
'Dancing Queen' Theresa May shimmies on stage to defend Brexit - and her job
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:
VIDEO: British PM Theresa May danced her way on to the stage to ABBA's disco hit 'Dancing Queen' at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham #CPC18 pic.twitter.com/HV46v8XdGE
— AFP news agency (@AFP) October 3, 2018
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:
- The persistent cough that kept interrupting her speech during last year's conference.
- 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.
As Swedish Ambassador I can only say Bravo to @theresa_may for starting her conference speech with ABBA’s Dancing Queen. #CPC18
— Torbjörn Sohlström (@sohlstromt) October 3, 2018
While others claimed that she had ruined Abba for them.
I use to love Dancing Queen by Abba #Cringe 😩 https://t.co/MGeBGhf0Gi
— Angela Rayner (@AngelaRayner) October 3, 2018
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.
Dancing queen? Surely a much more appropriate ABBA song for Theresa May would be SOS!! https://t.co/OvXfbWSwhm
— Peter Coyne (@petercoyne14) October 3, 2018
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