Penny Mordaunt Couldn't Stop Herself Using This 1 Phrase During Her Tory Conference Speech

Maybe a thesaurus wasn't to hand.
Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt during her speech to the Tory Party Conference
Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt during her speech to the Tory Party Conference
OLI SCARFF via Getty Images

Penny Mordaunt’s Tory conference speech was certainly rousing on Wednesday – but no one was entirely clear what it was about.

And clips of the leader of the House of Commons’ emotional address have already gone viral because of how persistently she uses the phrase: “Stand up and fight.”

“Stand up and fight for the freedoms we have won,” she began, speaking passionately in front of her lectern.

She continued: “Against socialism, whether it is made of velvet or iron, have courage, and conviction – because when you do, you move our countrymen, our communities and capital of all kinds to our cause.”

At this point, the senior Tory started to point at the crowd for emphasis, adding: ″Stand up and fight – because when you stand up and fight, the person besides you and fights.

″And when our party stands up and fights, the nation stands up and fights.

“And when our nation stands up and fights, other nations stand up and fight.

″And they stand up and fight for the things for which the entire progress of humanity depends!”

Taking a breath, she said: “Freedom. That is what Conservatives do.

“That is what this nation does.”

Building up volume, Mordaunt went to hammer the message home: “Have courage. Bring hope. Stand up and fight.”

And once more, for emphasis, she shouted: “Stand up and fight!”

And then, Mordaunt suddenly ended her speech, thanking the conference, pointing her finger and shaking her hand high above her head once again, before running off stage.

"Stand up and fight, stand up and fight"

Penny Mordaunt issues a rallying cry to her party's MPs and members at the Conservative Party Conference, where she's met with a standing ovation https://t.co/OZSG4Rleyg pic.twitter.com/G0lVWwZZK2

— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) October 4, 2023

While the speech may have slipped under the radar at the time – as she spoke shortly before PM Rishi Sunak – clips of the address have since secured more than two million views in less than 24 hours.

And, as you can imagine, people on X (formerly Twitter) had a lot of thoughts...

When you can’t remember what you are talking about but “stand up and fight” sounds nice pic.twitter.com/pPsVY1AAcV

— Rosie Holt (@RosieisaHolt) October 4, 2023

Good grief. This wouldn’t get past the opening round of am-dram auditions. But let’s all stand up and fight.

— Matthew Stadlen (@MatthewStadlen) October 4, 2023

Penny Mordaunt got all the Tory Conference delegates ready to stand up and fight, but she forgot to tell them what for, who with or why.#CPC23

— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody_PM) October 4, 2023

"Stand up and fight," says the woman representing the party that introduced sweeping laws against the right to protest https://t.co/No3K0qpf8M

— Zing Tsjeng (@misszing) October 4, 2023

Does she want people to stand up and fight? It’s just not clear

pic.twitter.com/5VIOwvQoB9

— Liam Thorp (@LiamThorpECHO) October 4, 2023

I don't think I've ever seen anyone put so much emphasis, significance and passion into saying absolutely nothing. https://t.co/LUAcZxEUPj

— David Baddiel (@Baddiel) October 4, 2023
Close

What's Hot