Tories roar for Penny Mordaunt after she declares ‘stand up and fight’ and punches air

Penny Mordaunt urged Tories to “stand up in fight” as she delivered a rousing speech to the party conference.

The Commons Leader invoked the spirit of former PM Margaret Thatcher as she warned Labour would take the country back to the 1980s.

She said: “They want to return us to the 1980s. Conference, we are not for returning.

Ms Mordaunt also ripped into Labour and Sir Keir Starmer, while mocking Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and the SNP’s Humza Yousaf.

She said Sir Ed made his predecessor Tim Farron “look like a giant” and that Mr Yousaf “made Nicola Sturgeon look competent”.

Ms Mordaunt’s speech comes ahead of Rishi Sunak’s address just before midday.

The Prime Minister is expected to use his keynote speech to axe the HS2 leg which was due to connect Manchester with Birmingham as he criticises 30 years of a “broken” system incentivising “the easy decision, not the right one”.

Mr Sunak will pitch himself as the man to “fundamentally change our country” ahead of a general election expected next year.