Theresa May accused of plagiarising part of her speech from The West Wing
Downing Street has denied suggestions that the British Prime Minister plagiarised part of her speech from political drama The West Wing, insisting Theresa May prefers the sitcom Friends.
In her address to the Tory party conference, Mrs May spoke of the UK and her party's ability to emerge stronger when faced with a challenge.
She said: "And it is when tested the most that we reach deep within ourselves and find that our capacity to rise to the challenge before us may well be limitless."
It was likened to a line by president Josiah Bartlet in the US series, where he says: "The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels, but every time we think we have measured our capacity to meet a challenge, we look up and we're reminded that that capacity may well be limitless."
But a Downing Street source said: "There is no question of plagiarism, but if you are interested in the PM's choice of US television shows, she is not interested in the West Wing.
"She prefers Friends."
Well. Looks like Theresa May's speechwriters are mildly plagiarising the West Wing in her speech tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/fgsQ8hJVrs
— Tom Hamilton (@thhamilton) October 3, 2017
Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was among those to comment on the similarities, and said in a blog post: "It can be tempting to copy someone else's ideas and pass them off as your own.
"Theresa May seems to have done just that for her speech to Conservative Party Conference today, with a line from American TV drama The West Wing.
"It looks like she, or one of her speechwriters, is an Aaron Sorkin fan."
