Theresa May astonished Conservative party members by beginning her keynote speech at the party’s conference by dancing to Abba.
The novel entrance was caught by news cameras and quickly spread across social media, where it drew a combination of amusement, dismay and outright horror:
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
If May was hoping her on-stage moves would put an end to the robot jokes, she was sadly mistaken.
Although a few defended May’s willingness to poke fun at herself as sympathetic - and even politically savvy:
For most, it was car crash TV:
And the political gags were just too good to resist:
However, the choice of walk-on music went down predictably well at the Swedish embassy.
Even if some Abba fans felt that the Swedish supergroup’s rich back catalogue includes several tracks more appropriate to the beleaguered PM’s situation.
Continuing the self-deprecating theme, May opened her speech with references to her hitch-ridden appearance at last year’s conference, where she was plagued by a persistent cough and one of the letters on the backdrop behind her fell down mid-speech.
-
Crisis in Cuba: a ‘golden opportunity’ for Washington?Talking Point The Trump administration is applying the pressure, and with Latin America swinging to the right, Havana is becoming more ‘politically isolated’
-
5 thoroughly redacted cartoons about Pam Bondi protecting predatorsCartoons Artists take on the real victim, types of protection, and more
-
Palestine Action and the trouble with defining terrorismIn the Spotlight The issues with proscribing the group ‘became apparent as soon as the police began putting it into practice’
-
How corrupt is the UK?The Explainer Decline in standards ‘risks becoming a defining feature of our political culture’ as Britain falls to lowest ever score on global index
-
The high street: Britain’s next political battleground?In the Spotlight Mass closure of shops and influx of organised crime are fuelling voter anger, and offer an opening for Reform UK
-
The MAGA civil war takes center stage at the Turning Point USA conferenceIN THE SPOTLIGHT ‘Americafest 2025’ was a who’s who of right-wing heavyweights eager to settle scores and lay claim to the future of MAGA
-
Is a Reform-Tory pact becoming more likely?Today’s Big Question Nigel Farage’s party is ahead in the polls but still falls well short of a Commons majority, while Conservatives are still losing MPs to Reform
-
What does the fall in net migration mean for the UK?Today’s Big Question With Labour and the Tories trying to ‘claim credit’ for lower figures, the ‘underlying picture is far less clear-cut’
-
X’s location update exposes international troll industryIn the Spotlight Social media platform’s new transparency feature reveals ‘scope and geographical breadth’ of accounts spreading misinformation
-
Five takeaways from Plaid Cymru’s historic Caerphilly by-election winThe Explainer The ‘big beasts’ were ‘humbled’ but there was disappointment for second-placed Reform too
-
The new age of book banningThe Explainer How America’s culture wars collided with parents and legislators who want to keep their kids away from ‘dangerous’ ideas
