Labour councillor Matt Turmaine gives his opinion on the Prime Minister's disastrous conference speech

Even the most hardened political opponents of Theresa May must have had a jaw cringing moment of collective awkwardness while she was delivering her conference speech.

There was a P45 delivered by a prankster, the coughing fit, and finally the set literally falling apart. Britain’s greatest satirists could not have scripted a less strong and stable scenario.

By contrast, Jeremy Corbyn’s “Neoliberalism is broken,” offered what the party and the country wanted to hear.

Will these last be swiftly forgotten? History reveals some clues.

Labour PM, Harold Wilson’s “white heat” speech, redefining Britain’s industry and socialism still gets quoted today. Tony Blair famously said: “Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education, education.”

Margaret Thatcher’s notorious, “You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning” defined her premiership and the harshness of the subsequent decade.

Things don’t always turn out as planned though. The Liberal Party’s David Steel quoted Gladstone, telling conference: “Go back to your constituencies and prepare for government.” In fact, they had another three decades to prepare.

Norman Willis at the TUC Conference faced an embarrassing stage intervention, when a hangman’s noose was lowered from the ceiling while he spoke.

Equally, the Tories’ Ian Duncan Smith told his conference that the "quiet man" was “turning up the volume.” Of his own MPs preparing to stab him in the back, it transpired.

The less said about Jim Callaghan’s singing or John Major’s cones, the better.

Hugh Gaitskell, promised to “fight and fight and fight again, to save the party we love,” while Neil Kinnock’s “A Labour council, a Labour council…” speech marked a turning point in the history of the party he led.

See if you can remember this season’s speeches this time next year.