A tearful Theresa May had to battle a protester and repeatedly losing her voice as she struggled to outline her vision for 'the British dream'.

In a major security failing comedian Simon Brodkin, also known as Lee Nelson, made it to the stage and handed the Prime Minister a P45 form –  a document signalling the end of a job – saying 'Boris asked me to do it'.

He later tweeted:

The speech sought to offer a more personal insight into May, who has been criticised for being 'robotic', but she struggled with numerous coughing fits and had to stop several times to recover.

With her voice barely above a whisper at points, Tory delegates stood to applaud several times trying to give May time to recover as she laboured through an address lasting more than an hour. Frequently having to pause for water and accepting a cough sweet from Chancellor Philip Hammond, May refused to stop as she laid out plans to build a 'new generation of council housing' and announcing a cap on energy prices.

But the policy announcements, some previously advocated by former Labour leader Ed Miliband, will be overshadowed by the P45 incident and the repeated coughing incidents.

Showing signs of tears as she hugged her husband Philip afterwards, the speech that was billed as her leadership's reboot after the disastrous general election could not have gone much worse.

Even the slogan on the background behind her started falling apart with letters dropping off as she spoke.

Repeating the refrain 'that is what I am in this for', May tried to offer a more emotional insight into her beliefs and said she was committed to 'modern, compassionate Britain' and 'sweeping away the injustice that means for some the British dream is out of reach'.

She said: 'I do it to root out injustice and to give everyone in our country a voice.'

In one of a number of jokes designed to soften her image she said: 'I don't mind being called things like the ice maiden, although perhaps George Osborne did take the analogy a little too far.' The former Chancellor, whom she sacked when she took office, has said he would not rest until she is 'chopped up in bags in my freezer'. 

She also offered a heartfelt apology to activists for the general election which she said was 'too scripted, too professional' and said she took the blame for the failure to win a majority government.

The speech could be disastrous, with possible metaphors around her losing her voice, or it could help the public to warm to her as people feel sorry for the unfortunate series of events.

In a poignant end to the speech she said: '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.

'That is the story of our party. That is the story of our country. And that is the resolve and determination we need as we turn to face the future today.'