FOOTAGE of Theresa May laughing hysterically during Prime Minister’s Questions has gone viral on the internet.
Mrs May descended into a fit of the giggles as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn raised with her reports that an English Tory council had done a “sweetheart deal” with ministers to avoid council tax increases.
It is being alleged that David Hodge, the leader of Surrey Council, had been in direct contact with Business Secretary Sajid Javid over the local authority’s funding crisis. It is also claimed he met Chancellor Philip Hammond privately over the issue.
READ MORE: Budget 2017: Chancellor Philip Hammond's jokes prove hit in House of Commons
Mr Corbyn asked her: “The Prime Minister now has serious questions to answer after she stood at the Despatch Box and called suggestions of a sweetheart deal alternative facts.”
Mrs May denied that, but after giving repeated similar answers to similar questions from Mr Corbyn she dissolved into the laughing fit as frontbench colleagues, including Chancellor Philip Hammond, looked on astonished.
The images were quickly picked up by social media and soon attracted a range of comments, with Twitter user called “Panopticon”, describing her as behaving like a “pantomine villain”.
Some users put up a video on a continual loop, exaggerating the laugh even more.
Another user, calling himself Paul, said “the footage of Theresa May laughing is the stuff of nightmares”.
Another user Jack Fiehn, a journalist with BBC Surrey, said: “The more I see that footage of Theresa May laughing, the more disturbing it gets.”
Last night Mrs May held a reception for men and women from a range of business sectors at 10 Downing Street.
She told them she had “made some huge progress in recent years” tackling gender equality, and now has “more women on the boards of our biggest companies, more women in Parliament, more girls taking science, technology, engineering and maths”.
READ MORE: Budget 2017: Chancellor Philip Hammond's jokes prove hit in House of Commons
She confessed that despite taking Physics and Maths A-levels, she was left feeling “very frightened” by the whiteboards on a recent visit to King’s College London Mathematical School.
“We’ve now got the lowest gender pay gap on record and more women in work than ever before, but of course, while it’s right to celebrate those achievements, there is still more to do.”
She said the requirement, as of next month, for employers to publish their gender pay and gender bonus gap would “shine a light” on pay differentials between the sexes.
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