Akshata Murty, the Prime Minister’s wife, made a surprise address at Conservative Party Conference ahead of Rishi Sunak’s speech.
Ms Murty told the conference they were each other’s best friends, and added she “could not imagine being anywhere else”, ahead of his address to close the Conservative Party conference.
The Prime Minister’s wife told the crowd in Manchester: “Yes, you are absolutely right, I am not on the agenda for today. A bit of a surprise addition shall we say and a surprise for my husband too, who has no idea what I am going to say.”
After telling the audience that her speech was also a surprise to their daughters Anoushka and Krishna, she added: “The reason why I am here is really quite simple, and it is because Rishi and I are each other’s best friends.
“We are one team and I could not imagine being anywhere else but here today with all of you to show my support to him and to the party.”
Ms Murty closed her speech by telling the conference she often reminds her husband of the importance of fighting for his values and Conservative values “when the going gets tough”.
She concluded: “Rishi, you know this, you know that doing the right thing for the long term, even when it is hard, is the right thing to do.”
As he opened his speech, Mr Sunak echoed the conference slogan, and said Ms Murty was the best decision for “long-term future” he had ever made.
