Watch: UK leader shows off her dance moves during Cape Town school visit

Daily Telegraph UK

28 Aug, 2018 08:39 PM2 mins to read

British Prime Minister Theresa May, second from right, dances with pupils during a visit at the the ID Mkhize High School in Gugulethu, Cape Town, South Africa. Photo / AP

Theresa May tried out her dance moves on a group of children at a school in Cape Town, to kick off her tour of Africa.

The Prime Minister grinned as she moved from side to side and bobbed up and down, joining in with the pupils who greeted her at the school by performing an energetic dance.

Mrs May appeared to be pleased with the reception, thanking the children for dancing with her.

At a packed school assembly, she told the pupils: "Can I thank all those young people who were involved in the performances outside who welcomed me."

She later danced a second time during her visit to the ID Mkize School in Cape Town.

The school is twinned with Whitby High School in Yorkshire. The two schools are part of a British Council funded teacher exchange scheme called 'Connected Classrooms'.

The PM used her visit to the school to announce that the Chevening scholarship would be opened up to 100 more of "Africa's brightest young people".

She said: "What I see before me in this hall today is the future of South Africa."

She added: "I'd like to think that some of you, when you get older, if you're thinking of going to university that you might think of coming to one of our great universities in the UK.

"We've got a programme, it's called the Chevening scholarship, which helps people to do that and I'm pleased to say today we're announcing that we're going to open up scholarships to 100 more of Africa's brightest young people."

The Prime Minister has embarked on her tour, during which she will be visiting South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya on a trade mission designed to bolster the UK's post-Brexit fortunes.

Dancing politicians: the good, the bad and the awkward

Nothing tests a politician quite like the combination of music, hip swinging and international dignitaries or potential voters. Theresa May is just the latest in a long list, from Boris Yeltsin to Barack Obama, to hear whirring camera shutters as they break out the moves.