Leveraged accounts went bullish on the pound for the first time since May 2016 last week, according to Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. "We mustn't fail. If we fail, we will not just let the Conservative Party down, we will let the country down".

She also apologised to activists calling the snap election and losing the Conservatives' majority.

In the closing speech of her party's annual conference that was overshadowed by splits in her top team of ministers and recriminations after a botched June election, May will try to take charge and reset an agenda dominated by the complex talks to leave the European Union.

Midway through the speech a prankster walked up and handed May a P45 - the form given to people being laid off in Britain.

May's speech was later repeatedly halted by coughing fits, for which finance minister Philip Hammond gave her a sweet.

The unnamed politician said: "It's a disaster".

The Daily Express front page offered support to May with the headline: "Trust Theresa's Fighting Spirit".

The BBC cited former culture minister Ed Vaizey as saying "quite a few" Conservative MPs thought May should go, although there was no sign of significant numbers to force the issue.

While home secretary Amber Rudd insisted the PM "should stay" despite the "presentation fails" in her problem-plagued conference speech. "She has my full support".

Speaking anonymously, one Tory lawmaker said May should resign now to allow a new leader to be elected because she would lead the party to defeat at the next election.

The Prime Minister also said it will invest an additional £2 billion (S$3.6 billion) in affordable housing - taking the total affordable housing budget to nearly £9 billion.

Zahawi told Britain's Channel 4 News: "When she gets a good deal from our Euro partners the whole narrative will change". Instead, she delivered a speech that made headlines but for the wrong reasons.

There were even comforting words for May from London's Labour mayor Sadiq Khan.

Greg Clark, the business secretary, praised the "guts and grace" the prime minister showed during her speech in Manchester.

But she defined the "British dream" for most people as the prospect that "their children will do better than themselves".

He was angrily denounced by MPs loyal to the Prime Minister, with Mr Walker dismissing his supporters as a "coalition of the disappointed" who had been overlooked for promotion. "She is committed to Brexit and there is no obvious alternative".