Penny Mordaunt channels Margaret Thatcher as she delivers roaring speech to Tory conference
Penny Mordaunt used her Conservative Party Conference address to channel Margaret Thatcher
Penny Mordaunt used her Conservative Party Conference address to channel Margaret Thatcher, warning Labour would take Britain back to when the country was under the grip of trade unions.
Addressing the conference, she used one of Thatcher's most famous phrases, saying: "Conference, we are not for returning."
She said the UK must "never again" be "tortured by the Wrack and the Lynch mob", adding: "They are the iron fist, the iron fist."
PA
She called for Britain to "stand up and fight".
The Leader of the Commons roared: "What I have to say to you today is not for the faint-hearted. We face the fight of our lives and our country needs us again, to stand up and fight.
"Stand up and fight against the odds, against the polling, against the sneering commentary, against the inevitability of decliners and the despite-Brexiters."
She continued: "We are the party and country that transformed the sick man of Europe into a titan on the global stage, who stood up and fought against militant trade unions and broke their chokehold on Britain.
"A few brave people with courage and conviction and love of country who thought about the long-term, not short-term popularity, who knew what needed to be done and took on bullies to achieve it.
"Margaret Thatcher and every single person that stood with her and fought for a better future."
Hitting out at the Labour party, Mordaunt said: "Make no mistake what will happen if we fail to win at the general election. And the biggest threat of all is that the sons and daughters of Scargill are ready for a rematch of battles of the 1980s.
"No less than the repeal of all of the reforms and freedoms we have brought in. Aided and abetted by Labour. Fuelled by the politics of envy, identity and class hatred. Outdated, dogmatic, irrelevant to the needs of the people."
She added: "They want to return us to the 1980s. Conference, we are not for returning.
"We must never again let this country be subject to the bully boy barons of militant trade unions - the Matt Wracks, the Mick Lynch’s. People who say they are going to defend your community while destroying it.
"People who say to hard-working families the best way they to make ends meet is to drive those ends further apart by going on strike."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
WATCH NOW: Sunak addresses Conservative Party Conference
She said the UK must "never again" be "tortured by the Wrack and the Lynch mob", adding: "They are the iron fist, the iron fist."
Mordaunt gave her speech before the Prime Minister, whose address saw him cancel the rest of HS2 and announce a progressive smoking ban.