Conference Special Daily Politics

Conference Special

Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn with live coverage of David Cameron's Conservative Party conference speech in Manchester.

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Morning, folks. Welcome to our final Daily Politics conference special.


Praise the Lord. The setting, Manchester. The occasion, the Tory


Party conference. Today's big event, David Cameron's speech to the party


faithful. The prime minister is expected to take to the stage in


about half an hour's time. We'll have his speech live and


uninterupted. Expect clear battle lines to be drawn between the Tories


and Labour ahead of the general election. Mr Cameron's theme: Labour


has tacked to the left, the Tories now occupy the centre right. Profit,


Mr Cameron will say, is not a dirty word.


The Education Secretary's been getting fit at an Austrian fat farm!


And he's ready for a fight - with the teaching unions. We'll be


getting Michael Gove's reaction to the Prime Minister's speech. And


conference just wouldn't be conference without the thoughts of


sketchwriter Quentin Letts. You have got the big, blue banners sorted,


the nipples, the invitations have been sent out. Then someone has to


go and spoil it. All that in the next two hours of public service


broadcasting at its finest, and with us for the duration, a Tory grandee.


In fact, it doesn't get much grander than this. Someone who likes to lord


it over the political jungle, Michael Heseltine, no less. Now, if


like me, you've been up since six reading the newspapers, you'll know


that Mr Cameron doesn't dream of deficits and decimal points. Which


is a bit of a relief to know. He dreams instead of helping people get


on in life. Mr Cameron will say today that "it's businesses that get


wages in people's pockets, food on their tables, hope for their


families and success for the country". "Profit, wealth creation,


tax cuts, and enterprise are not dirty, elitist words". Where have I


heard all that before? In every one of your conference speeches. And


every Tory's throughout history. Land of opportunity. It is deja vu


all over again. But that is because it works. It is the great driving


motivation of society. Couldn't he come up with something new? If you


have got something better, change it. If it ain't bust, don't fix it.


Ken Clarke said in today's Guardian in his usual help away that it will


be a tall order for David Cameron to win the next election. It will be a


tall order, because the Lib Dems scuppered the boundary distribution,


but it is possible. And on balance, it is likely. But you always say


that about elections. You told me that in 1997, when it was clear you


were going to get dumped. It was a private conversation. You and I


never have private conversations! But I think in the next election,


the battle lines have been predictable for the three years.


They are working out extremely well. They are the same battle lines that


are always the essence of an election. If things are going well,


don't let the other guy remit. If things are going badly, time for a


change. There is Mr Cameron, hand-in-hand with Samantha Cameron,


walking from one of the conference hotels. Looks like maybe he has come


out of the Midland, the main conference hotel, right in the heart


of Manchester. She has had an incredible revival in the centre of


the city and is generally regarded by people who go to these


conferences that Manchester is the top city to host these conferences.


There are also Birmingham and Liverpool, but I only report what


people tell me. And they are crossing what people call the


piazza. Maybe you didn't know that Manchester has a piazza, but it


does. There is a huge railway station in the centre of town which


has now been converted into this magnificent new conference centre.


"Hard-working people", but not hard-working at grammar, since they


managed to miss out the hyphen. But expensive public schools, you don't


learn to spell properly. Do you expensive public schools, you don't


think ordinary people have yet to feel the benefits of this economic


recovery? No. For a very obvious reason. So you agree with Mr Clark


that they are not yet feeling it? They are not yet feeling it, because


the recovery has been slower than anybody wanted. When the economy


becomes more buoyant, the number of jobs will rise, and then wages will


rise following demand. By the next election, unless something goes


wrong with the international markets, like oil, people will find


their wages have increased in real terms. But you have seen so many


elections where this has been important, particularly for the


Conservatives to do well. People will have to feel that their living


standards are rising once more by 2015. Yes, but they will. Sitting


governments don't win elections if people feel they are getting poorer.


As I was saying, time for change is when the economy is not delivering


what people want. Don't let the other guy ruin it is when you have


been delivering rising living standards for 18 months before the


election. It has to start happening now, and it is, particularly for


those who are finding jobs. But in the growth and recruitment


those who are finding jobs. But in advertising going on, which is now


rising, I can see that we will have rising employment. As the market


tightens, wages will improve and living standards will follow. What


do you think of the politics of journalists asking politicians, do


they know the price of a loaf of bread? They have always done that.


Does it matter? Not at all. It might matter a flick of a finger on


polling day, or the day before. But what is the price of a loaf red?


There is not a thing called red any more. And we don't buy pints of


milk. I like bread. I see in the papers that supermarkets are talking


about 47p for the cheap stuff. But you can go up to three or £4 for a


loaf of bread, and everything in between. I remember when there were


no choices. There was a white loaf. Then you could ask the question. But


that was so long ago. Before my time. But not before my time. Not


that was so long ago. Before my long to go before the prime minister


takes to his feet. Probably around 20 minutes, so let's get a sense of


the mood in Manchester with James Astill from the Economist and Times


columnist and Grazia litter glad to Gaby Hinsliff. James, has it been a


good week for the Tories? It has been a reasonably good week for


them. Mr Cameron does not have the questions against his authority that


he had last year. The mood is resigned, or quietly contented with


his leadership. People are watching the economy, of course. But they are


generally hopeful that the economy recovery will get stronger. His


speech is following that context, it is not as good as it should be, but


not as bad as it might be. Gabby, Ed Miliband's speech last week changed


the direction of conferences and laid down a challenge for the


Conservatives. Do you think they have and said that this week? That


is what we will see today. If Ed Miliband was talking last week


breadline Britain, people who are desperate, then Cameron is talking


to what you might call the bread-maker owning classes, or at


least people who aspire to have a bread-maker, a more comfortable, but


still anxious class of people. This conference is surrounded by Thatcher


memorabilia will stop it is the first one since she died. He will be


trying to recapture that sense of aspiring people who work hard, but


also to recapture some of the excitement around politics. I was


listening to in Duncan Smith last night and missing about how exciting


it was to be a Tory under Thatcher. People are not carried away here.


There is a sense of that in the extracts we have seen, because David


Cameron is obviously keen not to focus on things like deficit


reduction, or not only that anyway, because he needs to offer something


more and be more optimistic. You get that sense? That is certainly the


sense of the extracts we have seen, but he needs to convince us. We know


he can do a good rhetorical turn . We know he can make a set piece


speech and make an argument, but we need something more urgent and


interesting. The challenge of David Cameron's careerist to make ordinary


people believe he cares about their problems and understands them. At


the same time, he needs the support from his party. Those are two urgent


things. Understanding is something we have not really seen from him


yet. What about UKIP? How have they dealt with the challenge from the


right, and what does he need to do in the speech to answer that


challenge? I would not say he has to address that challenge. Nigel Farage


has been a bigger draw here on the fringe. That is what many Tory MPs


would like to hear about from David Cameron today, something that makes


them feel that UKIP will not eat into their votes. That is not about


Europe, it is about all the issues of disaffection that UKIP are


picking up on. UKIP seem to have adopted the Tory manifesto from 30


years ago wholesale, which appeals to a lot of older Tories. Do you


think Boris mania has deflected a bit? Yes. It clearly has. Cameron


set the tone yesterday himself by saying that he would welcome Boris


back to Parliament. It shows that Cameron feels more secure than he


has done. I suspect it also shows that he knows that the enormous


excitement about Boris last year after the Olympics has dissipated a


bit. We are going to talk now about something that has dominated the


last few days, which is the row between the Daily Mail and the


Labour leader Ed Miliband over the paper's article claiming that Ed


Miliband's father Ralph Miliband hated Britain. Last night, the


paper's deputy editor clashed on Newsnight with Labour's Alastair


Campbell. We will hear and excerpt of that interview, starting with the


deputy editor admitting it was perhaps a mistake to have a picture


of Ralph Miliband's grave next to the headline, grave socialist. It


may be that the publication of that picture was an error of judgement on


our website. When Ed Miliband complained about that on Saturday


evening, he spoke to me personally and I arranged that picked Joe to be


rude. I think using that picture was an arrow of judgement. -- I arranged


for the picture to be removed. Can you justify that headline? Did Ralph


Miliband hate Britain, having fought in the war for them? Yes or no?


Ralph Miliband's values... You don't support what the piece said, do you?


His views were anti-static to many peoples views... Fairly explosive


clash on Newsnight. Gaby Hinsliff, your thoughts on the fact that the


Daily Mail felt dead did have to put your thoughts on the fact that the


somebody up to defend the original article? That is unusual. The Daily


Mail does not usually put senior executives on air will stop it was


interesting that it was not Paul Baker who went up. The Daily Mail


have published a selection of readers' letters, and a large number


of them feel it was wrong to go after someone's father, rather than


after them. They do recognise that Ralph Miliband fought in the war. He


was a Holocaust survivor. You don't take things like that lightly. The


Daily Mail is explaining itself to its readers, if not Alastair


Campbell. What about Ed Miliband? Even David Cameron said he


understood somebody wanted to defend their own father, even if it was as


public as Ed Miliband made it. I think this will prove helpful for Ed


Miliband. His televised explanation of what he was doing, showing how


incensed he was, I thought he was impressive. People will sympathise


with and admire him. This could be a significant change in the way the


country views him. Michael Heseltine, did you feel sympathy for


Ed Miliband? Yes, I did. First of all, this arose from a diary entry


when the guy was 17. It was written at a time when the big political


issue was Communist, on the one hand, fascist on the other. And it


is a quite different climate to the one we know today. But I have to


say, Alistair Campbell's point was fair, nothing happens in the Daily


Mail which Paul Dacre does not determine personally. He has done a


profile both of Nick Clegg and of Ed Miliband, through one of his


supporting journalists, which are hatchet jobs. There is no way you


can describe it in any other way. And that is during the period of


their conferences. I personally felt this was carrying politics to an


extent which is just demeaning, frankly. The headline was not


justified? Bootle it was not justified, and it is completely out


of context. As everybody knows, the guy fought for this country, and we


now live in a totally different world to those times, when it was


all about the clash between coming is and fascism. Let's be frank,


Stalin did some most appalling things, but the Russians turned the


Second World War. So, it has been a year to remember.


The Prime Minister has had to tread a difficult path, keeping everybody


happy, including his coalition partners and the right of his party.


Not an easy task. What would Margaret Thatcher make of it all? We


have been to a former Conservative club to find out some opinions on Mr


Cameron's year. This report contains some flash photography.


Margaret Thatcher was a political giant, the most successful


Conservative leader in modern times. She won three elections in a row,


and this April, she passed away, but even in death, Lady Thatcher towers


over her successors. Today, we lost a great leader, a great Prime


Minister and a Great Britain. Margaret Thatcher did not just lead


our country, she saved our country. Margaret Thatcher was a proven


winner, but is David Cameron? After all, he did not win in 2010, and he


may not in 2015, either. Now, there are three main reasons why this is


the case, so, what are they, and how can he convince Conservative MPs and


Tory members in the Conservative clubs and associations that he has


got a plan to deliver victory? The first problem for Cameron is the


grip of the Liberal Democrats on the seats they hold. In February, Nick


Clegg's party held the marginal seat seats they hold. In February, Nick


of Eastleigh in a by-election. Cameron's second problem is


Labour's resilience. In November, Labour took a four Conservatives


seat in Corby, in a by-election, a reminder that Labour is uniting the


left by picking up the support of left-wing people who used to vote


Liberal Democrat. It is also a reminder that the electoral battle


ground favours Labour. But while the left is uniting, the right is


divided. They did Cameron faces the new threat of UKIP. They did not


just beat him in Eastleigh, but in the Rotherham and Middlesbrough


by-elections as well. UKIP is David Cameron's the problem. In May, Nigel


Farage and UKIP won more than 150 council seats in the local


elections. Nigel Farage, of course, celebrated in the pub. This is


absolutely marvellous. Nonetheless, Cameron is fighting back. Tory


backbenchers have cheered up, buoyed by Labour's falling polls, by the


benefits, where the deportation of the terror suspect Abu Qatada, and


by the Prime Minister's backing for a private member's bills brought in


by James Wharton, a Conservative backbencher, to bring about a


referendum on Britain's EU membership, which Cameron had


promised. I am delighted to be taking this bill forward. It means a


lot to a lot of people across the country. It is a big issue and a


significant one, which deserves to be debated.


The Same Sex Marriage Bill became law, but not before more Tory MPs


voted against it than for it. Many were very unhappy. Some claimed


party members were leaving in droves. And then, just when things


were looking up, and Tory MPs were getting more cheerful, came Syria.


Parliament spoke, and I think Parliament made clear its view,


which was that it does not want a British involvement in military


action, so we will proceed on that basis. But I think that is right, to


have a strong view, put forward a strong case, and then to listen to


Parliament. David Cameron lost the Syria vote not just because of the


votes of Labour MPs, but because enough Conservative MPs did so, too.


Their bottom line was that they enough Conservative MPs did so, too.


simply did not trust him not to get Britain entangled in another Iraq


war. That sums up David Cameron's problems with his party - it is all


a matter of trust. You see, those MPs just did not trust him on the EU


Referendum Bill that is why he is backing the James Wharton bill. The


Europe issue, which proved so difficult for Mrs Thatcher, is


proving no easier for her successor. Is there any growth in that box,


Chancellor? But if there is one area where the Conservatives have a lead,


it is the economy. As those elusive green shoots begin to show through,


voters feel safer with George Osborne's hand Mattila, than that of


Ed Balls. The economy is not in full recovery mode, but if it is by 2015,


that will surely give David Cameron recovery mode, but if it is by 2015,


his best chance of winning. A weak opposition and an improving economy


- the Conservatives have got reasons to be cheerful. But can David


Cameron really overcome the problems I have described? If he can't, will


he try to form another coalition with Nick Clegg after the next


general election? I cannot help wondering, if that happens, what


Margaret Thatcher would have thought about it.


Let's get the thoughts of two prominent Tory backbenchers are in


Manchester, Harriet Baldwin and Peter bone. Baldwin and bone, it


sounds like provincial lawyers, or a musical act, or maybe both. If Mr


Cameron could not win in 2010, what makes you think he could win in


2015? Well, I think what we have got to focus on is continuing to rescue


the economy from Labour's recession and build on the early signs that we


are seeing, make sure that jobs are continuing to be created by private


sector firms. We have seen 1.4 million private sector jobs created


since the election, so make sure that those jobs are ones where


people can continue to increase their skills and their wages in due


course. Jobs where people can save for pensions, and where... All


right, do not go through the whole list! None of that may win you the


election, even if it all comes to pass. Can you tell me, who is the


last sitting Prime Minister who increased his share of the vote? If


you look back in UK history, the increased his share of the vote? If


answer is Harold Wilson, but if you look abroad, and you look at the


advance of centre-right parties around the world, you can see


examples in New Zealand, in Canada, and recently we have seen the


Australians vote for a centre-right party, Norway... These were all


getting rid of incumbents, they were not vetting rid of the left, they


were just getting rid of incumbents, and you are the incumbents. Peter


Bone, you have a particular problem, because for the first time, you go


into an election where the right is seriously split tween the


Conservatives and UKIP - how big a threat is UKIP to the Conservatives


losing marginal seats? I take that as a different point of view. I


think it is a great opportunity. If our problem was that all of the


voters were looking at centre-left parties, we would have no chance at


the next election. But the voters are looking at centre-right parties.


So if anyone should be worrying, it is Ed Miliband. He has not got a


pond to fish in. But they are well ahead but you know, Andrew, at this


stage in the Parliament, that has no import whatsoever. So, Lord


Ashcroft's poll of the Tory marginals, which shows you losing


Ashcroft's poll of the Tory these marginals because a chunk of


your vote goes to UKIP, that is not going to happen? You know, Andrew,


that is if there was a general election tomorrow, and it will not


be tomorrow, it will be in 18 months time. I then, we will have won over


the centre-right vote, which is what I guess David Cameron will start to


do with his speech in a few minutes' time. Harriett Baldwin, do you think


there should be an electoral pact with UKIP at a constituency level?


No, I think the Conservatives will field candidates in every


constituency, as Conservatives. But I am sure that the sensible voters


in Wellingborough, where Peter will be standing as a Conservative


candidate, will recognise what a great MP he has been and back him


again. Well, that is very controversial to say that! Peter


bone, would you like to have a pact with UKIP in your constituency? I am


a Conservative and always will be, and I will be on the ballot paper as


a Conservative. I will answer your question - I would like UKIP to


endorse me, I would like the Liberals to endorse me, I would like


Labour to endorse me, if they see common sense. Well, what is the


difference between you and UKIP? You have even got a UKIP Thai jig on,


almost. You know this tie, it is one the Australians gave us when we


allowed them to beat us at cricket. That is a long time ago! So, what is


the difference between you and UKIP? This is the point I made at


the beginning, there is this huge centre-right vote, and we need to


unite it. Whether that is done by a pact, or by an understanding, or


whether we just get those people who are thinking of voting UKIP back to


us, it is a huge opportunity. If we do not do that, we have a problem


electorally. But this is the challenge the next 18 months. You


are not on the centre-right, Tech, you are on the right! Thank you, I


am glad you corrected me on that. --. Peter Bone Thank you for that


plug, but the actual situation is, we are a broad church, and anyone to


the centre-right should vote Conservative, but we have to


persuade people were thinking of voting UKIP that we have a


centre-right vision. And that is what I think the Prime Minister will


start doing today. And the alternative is a very Socialist


Labour Party, that it has been reported that there has been a


record trade in Manchester during your conference in lobsters at


expensive restaurants - lobsters the food of hard-working people? I have


not seen a single one myself. But I am very proud that we have put £25


million into the Manchester economy this week, and created a look was


that your own money? I would like to thank the police also... All right,


all right, you have plenty of time to do that. Peter Bone, is lobster


the food of hard-working people? I hate lobster, my money went in the


local Subway. I did not know Manchester had a tech subway. The


restaurant chain! Though you are, Baldwin and Bone, you got the part.


Thanks for joining us. Moving away from the type of food which has been


on offer in Manchester... In the 17th century, the peasants went on


strike because they had too much salmon to eat. That's true. There


was a lot of salmon in the rivers, and they got it a after day. Who


knows, with artificial breeding, what might happen with lobsters? We


will worry about that on another occasion. Could I just ask you


briefly about UKIP? The line is going to be, to Tories who are


thinking that they might put their cross next to the UKIP candidate in


2015, if you vote UKIP, you will get labour, that will be the Tory line,


won't it? It is true. How else do you persuade people not to vote for


UKIP? I think you very clearly articulate what you believe in, and


you have a vision based on what you believe in, but the basic, that


issue is that there is no room for a protest vote without a price. The


price is Ed Miliband. What about policies which people like Peter


Bone and others in his party who agree with him on issues like Europe


might believe in, are those sorts of things, like the marriage tax break,


which might persuade people to stay within the Tory fold? I think Europe


which might persuade people to stay is somewhere down about ninth in the


list of issues that people care about. The election next year will


attract a lot political attraction, it will have a derisory turnout.


People just are not that interested. It is a sort of media hype type


issue. And the marriage tax break, a good policy? It is a fine policy, it


is not going to make a great deal of difference, but it is important in


is not going to make a great deal of one respect - Cameron promised it


and he has delivered it. That is an important credibility issue, as is


his gay marriage proposal. Very controversial, particularly in the


Tory party, but to a section of the electorate, a promise kept. There


are some Tory MPs who are synthetic to the idea of deals done with UKIP


locally, at a constituency level, there is some confusion on the UKIP


side as to whether they would sanction that or not - what do you


say? Beware of what happens to your pivotal vote in the centre ground.


We have seen UKIP's before, with all of its representatives on the


continent, they are even daring Germany now, on a small-scale, they


are there in Holland. You always have these right-wing, racist


operations, pandering to the lowest, and eliminate in politics.


And that is what is happening. But when it comes to a general


election, the choice will be very simple, and this is where the


strength of Cameron lies - do you want Ed Miliband Prime Minister, or


do you want David Cameron? Are you saying UKIP is racist? Of course it


is racist. Who doubts that? The language, the rhetoric, the


membership, who doubts it? Mr Farage is a racist? I did not say that, I


said his party is very attractive to a racist agenda. Everybody knows


that. Let's not pretend there is an agenda for that. I lived through


Enoch Powell's era, and the emotion his speech aroused at that time with


certain elements not just in the Conservative Party, but the dockers


and the Smithfield Porters, that a gender is there in every society,


all the time. At your peril do you stoke it up. Just like Powell's


speech, it was misleading. It gave the impression that you could change


the fortunes of society, that they could go home, preferably with


someone pushing them home. That is inconceivable. Boris Johnson won


London with a 50% ethnic electorate. Birmingham, Manchester, Sheffield,


they are now approaching 30%, some areas higher. That is the


constituency which the Conservatives have got to fight in and win in, and


if they think they can peel off to a sectoral, narrow south-east of


England, there is a high electoral price to pay, and it will be paid


why those who will not stomach any association with UKIP and will move


out into the middle ground. Let me into rock. The prime minister will


be speaking shortly. Let's go to Manchester and our political editor


Nick Robinson. I get the impression that the specific prominence that Mr


Miliband gave last week to freeze energy prices and a couple of other


promises will be met not by the equivalent, but by more general


rhetoric about recovery from Mr Cameron? Today, that is true. In the


long-term, leading up to the Chancellor's Autumn statement, his


long-term, leading up to the mini Budget, you will see other


measures on the coalition government designed to deal with the so-called


standards of living Rob. They may try to bring down train fares. In


the longer term, they may try and do something about the energy market,


too. There are suggestions that the government is considering getting


the taxpayer to pay for the green part of peoples energy rather than


the consumer. But today, you will get no Lizzie promises of that sort.


You will get a rhetorical assault on aid and band and Ed Balls. The prime


minister will claim there were wrong about land A and plan B. He will say


they are trying to -- trying to change the subject about standards


of living. He will say they are making an attack on the idea of


business profit and enterprise, making an attack on the idea of


which will be deeply damaging to the economy and in the long-term, make


us all poorer. We have briefed about phrases like" land of opportunity"


and so on. Sounds like he is recycling one of Michael


Heseltine's old conference speeches. It did well for you over a long


time! He used give the same speech every year as well. Are you asking


him or me? I am speaking to you, Nick. The truth is, there is that


sense of Back To The Future at this conference season. For a while, when


parties were so converged in the centre ground, some of the public


said, we can't distinguish them. It is striking to see how the Labour


Party, desperate to get more definition for Ed Miliband,


desperate to show that he is strong, ended up with a position in which,


on the one hand, they work revealing popular policies to deal with the


cost of living problem, but at the same time, allowed their enemies to


portray them as opposed to business. The Tories see a huge


opportunity in that. There is a sense of reassurance in the


Conservative Party after a pretty uncomfortable year in which this


party began to look at its leader and think, you are not really one of


us, and Nigel Farage sounds like one of us. They are now beginning to


find their Mojo a bit again, in part because they see Ed Miliband and


say, that is the enemy. We understand him. When they arrived,


say, that is the enemy. We there was a massive march here.


About 50,000 people were protesting against cuts and reforms to the


NHS. There was a sense almost among some Conservatives of, oh, yeah, we


remember those days, when people shouted at us. We like that, it


means we stand for something. And there were also memories of Margaret


Thatcher, who died this year. So there is a sense in which his party


was very edgy just a few months ago, and feels slightly better about


itself than it did. There is a sense that he is being pulled in two


different directions. If the Tories think Labour have moved to the left,


his natural instinct would be to say, we will occupy the centre


ground. On the other hand, people will say, we have got UKIP out there


and we need some red meat for the right. You will see an attempt to


give both. It is up to others to judge whether it is possible to do


both. Unlike Michael has little time -- Michael Heseltine, who said to


you that UKIP were pandering to racism, you have not seen that sort


of attack from the Tory front bench. They rarely use the name UKIP. I am


certain that David Cameron will not mention UKIP or Nigel Farage. He


will not attack those tendencies within his party. Their conclusion


in the Conservative Party has been that the only way to win back


people, many of whom they regard as naturally their own, is with some


blunt statements. You have seen the rather Orwellian slogans outside the


conference. " Crime down, welfare cuts" . They have to say to these


people, you might not like David Cameron. You might not like the


trend Britain is going in, but there are things you say you care about,


and they are being delivered. On the other hand, David Cameron tries to


occupy the centre ground with the emphasis in his speech not on the


economy bit, but also on welfare and education. He will make great play


of the fact that Ed Miliband had remarkably little to say about


education in his speech last week. On welfare, the Tory claim is that


the main thing he has to say is that he would reverse cuts rather than


tackle the problems of welfare dependency. Whether this attempt to


straddle a move to the right and a move to the centre at the same time


as possible, we will see. The telegraph's Ben Brogan, in his news


letter this morning, he says this conference season has changed the


terms of the political debate, largely thanks to Mr Miliband. It


has ended the kind of new Labour, centrist Conservative, Lib Dem cosy


consensus where the arguments were on the head of a pin. There is now


clear water between the parties over what they are arguing about. It is


almost back more to the discourse of the 60s and 70s. Is he right? Well,


it suits both of the big two parties to argue that. It suits Labour to


say they are proposing a very different economic settlement. It


suits the Conservatives to say that, too. My note of caution is


that when you get below the rhetoric, as I was trying to do in


an interview with the prime minister yesterday, I said to him, do you


attack Ed Miliband because he is interfering with the market when he


says he would freeze elections depresses? No, says David Cameron.


He says, we are interested in lower electricity prices. So the attack


the Tories make is that it is just a practical thing. They say this is a


short-term fix that will not work, rather than an ideological fix. If


you look at Labour and what they are saying on the economy, for all the


suggestions that can be summed up as left-wing, you still see a party


saying that if it came to power in 2015, it would match the Tories'


spending plan, at least for the first election year. It would not


borrow to increase today spending. So rhetorically, yes, there is a big


gap. But be wary of suggesting that there is a vast gulf in what these


parties would do or talk about. Thanks. We will let you get into the


hall for Mr Cameron's arrival in a minute or so. Mr Heseltine, the big


conference speech, is it quite what it was? I remember in the Winter


Gardens in Blackpool, an amazing, huge room for 5000 people, tiered so


you get a great atmosphere, that was the place to give a conference


speech. It was a privilege. That was where I did my 1981 speech about


blacks in Britain. They were born here, they live here, they vote


here. And the Tory party cheered it. Did you expect them to? No. I was


apprehensive, but I knew it had to be said, and I have never been so


proud of the Tory party. Let's now go through as the Tory faithful get


to their feet as the prime minister arrives on the platform of this


cover must Manchester -- Kavanagh 's Manchester conference centre.


Samantha Cameron, a little in the shade their, applauding her


husband. Let's now go to Manchester and listen to the Conservative


leader addressed the Conservative Party conference. Thank you.


This week in Manchester, we've shown this Party is on the side of


hardworking people. Helping young people buy their own home. Getting


the long-term unemployed back to work. Freezing fuel duty. Backing


marriage. Cutting the deficit. Creating jobs. Creating wealth. Make


no mistake: it is this Party with the verve, energy and ideas to take


our country forward. And I want to the verve, energy and ideas to take


thank everyone here for the great week we've had. When we came to


office, we faced a clear and daunting task: to turn our country


around. In May 2010, the needle on the gauge was at crisis point.


People were talking about this country in a way they had not done


for decades. But three and a half years later, we are beginning to


turn the corner. The deficit is falling. Our economy is growing. The


numbers of our fellow countrymen and women in work are rising. We are not




want to thank the people who have done the most to get us this far.


You. The British people. Never giving up. Working those extra


hours. Coping with those necessary cuts. You. British business. You


kept people on in the hard times. You iInvested before you knew for


certain that things were getting better. Together, we are clearing up






just clear up Labour's mess and think "job done"? Is it enough to


just fix what went wrong? I say - no. Not for me. This isn't job done.


It is job begun. I didn't come into politics just to fix what went


wrong, but to build something right. We in this party: we don't dream of




helping people get on in life. Aspiration, opportunity. These are


our words, our dreams. So today, I want to talk about our one, abiding




economy starts to recover, we build a land of opportunity in our country


today. Now, I know it'll be tough. People were asked, have we got what


it takes? If you saw the pictures of me on the beach in Cornwall, you


will know one thing - I have got the stomach for the fight! In his speech


last week, Ed Miliband promised that he would never be photographed with


his shirt off in public. Ed, after hearing that speech, here is the


deal. You keep your shirt on, I will keep the lights on. I know we've got


what it takes in this Party. Some people say "can't be done".


Conservatives say "what's to stop us?". They said we couldn't get


terrorists out of our own country. Well, Theresa knew otherwise, and


that's why Abu Qatada had his very own May Day this year, and didn't it


feel good seeing him get on that plane? Some people said the NHS


wasn't safe in our hands. We knew otherwise. Who protected spending on


the NHS? Not Labour - us. Who started the Cancer Drugs Fund? Not


Labour - us. And by the way - who started the Cancer Drugs Fund? Not


presided over Mid Staffs, patients left for so long without water, they


were drinking out of dirty vase? People's grandparents lying filthy


and unwashed for days? Who allowed that to happen? Yes, it was Labour,


and don't you dare lecture anyone on the NHS again.


and of course, people say a lot of things about Europe. You will never


be able to veto an EU treaty. You will never cut the EU budget. And if


you did any of these things, you would have absolutely no allies in


Europe. Well, we proved them wrong. I vetoed that treaty, I got Britain


out of the EU bailout scheme, and yes, I cut that budget. In doing all


of this, we have not lost respect, we have won allies to get powers


back from Europe. And that is what we will do. And at the end of it,


yes, we will give the British people their say in a referendum. That is


our pledge - it will be your choice, in or out.


And of course, we know what one person said about us recently. You


just heard the Russian official, who said, Britain is just a small island


that no one pays attention to. Really? Let me just get this off my


chest one more time. When the world wanted rights, who wrote Magna


Carta? When they wanted representation, who built the first


Parliament? When they looked for compassion, who led the abolition of


slavery? When they searched for equality, who gave when their


freedom was in peril, who offered blood, toil, tears and sweat. Today,


whose music do they dance to, whose universities do they go to, whose


football do they watch? People of every religion, young and old,


straight and gay, whose example do they aspire to? I have not even got


onto the fact that this small island beat Russia in the Olympics last


year, or, wait for it... Or of course, that the biggest selling


vodka brand in the world is not Russian, it is British, Smirnoff,


made in Fife. So, yes, we may be a small island, but I tell you what,


we are a great country. Obviously, having said all that, do not expect


me to go an rustling with Vladimir, next time I see him. But I do want


to make this area 's point about our place in the world. Following that


vote on Syria in the House of Commons, some people said it was


vote on Syria in the House of time for Britain to rethink our


role. I am sorry, but I know God -- I do not agree. If we shrunk from


the world, we would be less safe and less prosperous here in the United


Kingdom. The role we play, the organisations that we belong to, and


yes, fact that our defence budget remains the fourth largest in the


world, all of this, it is not about national vanity, it is about our


national interest. When British citizens, our fathers, mothers,


daughters, when they are in danger, whether it is in the deserts of


Algeria or the city of Nairobi, then combating international terrorism,


it matters to us here. When five of the world's fastest-growing


economies are in Africa, then trading with Africa, helping Africa


to develop, with aid, that matters to us, right here. At the heart of


all of this work, the finest Foreign Secretary I could possibly have,


William Hague. As you heard in that great speech


just now, around the world, we really do matter, as a United


Kingdom - England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Now, the date


for the referendum has been set, the decision is for Scotland to make.


All the arguments, about the economy, about the currency, I


believe they make an unanswerable case for the United Kingdom. But


today, I want a more simple message to go out to the people of


Scotland, from us here, in this hall, from this party, from this


country, from England, and yes, from Wales and Northern Ireland as well,


and it is this - we want you to stay. We want us to stick together.


Think of all the things we have achieved together, all the things we


could do together, the nations as one, our Kingdom united.


For 12 years now, men and women from all parts of these islands have been


serving their country in Afghanistan. Next year, the last of


our combat troops will be coming home, having trained up the Afghans


to look after their own country. More than a decade of war, a


sacrifice beyond measure, from the finest and bravest Armed Forces in


the world, and I want us today to stand, to raise the roof, right


here, right now, to show just how proud of those men and women all of


us are. So, we in this room, we are a team,


and this year, we said goodbye to one of our team. Margaret Thatcher


made our country stand tall again, at home and abroad, rescuing our


economy, giving power to our people, spreading homeownership,


creating work, saving the Falklands, winning the Cold War, an amazing


record. I was sitting next to her at a dinner once, and as ever, she was


totally charming, and she put me at ease. After awhile, I said to her,




you would do differently? Quick as flash, she looked at me and said,


you know what, I think I did pretty well the first time around. But I


think we can all agree on that, and we can all agree on this - she was


the greatest peacetime Prime Minister our country has ever had.


Margaret Thatcher had an almighty mess to clear up when she came to


office, and so did we. And we must never forget what we found - the


biggest budget deficit in our peacetime history, the deepest


recession since the Second World War, but it was not just the debt


and the deficit that Labour left, it was who got hurt. Millions coming


here from overseas, while millions of British people were left on


welfare, the richest paying lower tax rates than their cleaners,


unsustainable, debt fuelled banks booming, while manufacturing with


underweight. The north falling further behind, towns where a


quarter of people lived on benefits. Schools where eight out of ten


children did not get five decent GCSEs. Yes, they were famously


intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich, but


tragically, they were also intensely getting filthy rich, but


relaxed about people saying stuck on welfare year after year, intensely


relaxed about children leaving school without proper


qualifications, so they could not get a job at the end of it. That was


it, that was what they left, the casino economy meets the welfare


Society meets the broken education system, a country for the few, built


by the so-called party of the many. And Labour, we will never let you


forget it. These past few years have been a


real struggle, but what people want to know is this aspect was the


struggle worth it? And here is the honest answer - the struggle will


only be worth it if we as a country finish the job we have started. In


finishing the job means understanding this - our economy may


be turning the corner, and of course, that is great, and we still


have not finished paying for Labour's debt crisis. If anyone


thinks that is over, done and dealt with, they are living in a fantasy


land. The country's debt crisis, created by Labour, is not over.


After three years of cuts, we still have one of the biggest budget


deficits anywhere in the world. We are still spending more than we


earn. We still need to earn more, and yes, our government still needs


to spend less. I see that Labour have stopped talking about the debt


crisis, and now they talk about the cost of living crisis, as if one was


not directly related to the other. And if you want to know what happens


if you do not deal with the debt crisis, and how it affects the cost


of living, just go and ask the Greeks. So, finishing the job means


sticking to our course until we have paid off all of Labour's deficit,


not just some of it. And yes, let us run a surplus, and this time, we fix


the roof when the sun is shining, as run a surplus, and this time, we fix


George said in that brilliant speech on Monday.


To abandon deficit reduction now would throw away all the progress


that we have made. It would put us back to square one. And


unbelievably, that is what Labour now want to do. How did they get it






more debt. They have learned nothing, literally nothing, from the


crisis they created. But finishing the job is about more than clearing






hard can really get on, in place of economy, one where people who work


the welfare Society, one where no individual is written off, and in


place of the broken education system, one that gives every child


the chance to rise up and succeed, our economy, our society, welfare,


schools, all reformed, all rebuilt, with one aim, one mission in mind -


to make this country, at long last and for the first time ever, a land


of opportunity for all. For all. So, it makes no difference whether


you live in the North for the South, whether you are black or white, a




your parents were, what matters is the effort you put in. And if you


put in the effort, you will have the chance to make it. That is what the


land of opportunity means, that is what finishing the job means.


Of course, I know that in politics, there are others talking about these


things, but wishing for something, caring for something, that is not


enough. You cannot conjure up a dynamic economy, a strong society or


fantastic schools, with a stroke of the Minister's pen. It takes a


mixture of hard work, common-sense, and above all, the right values.


When the left say, you cannot expect too much from the poorest kids, do


not ask too much from people on welfare, business is the problem,


not the solution, here in this party, we must say, that is just


plain wrong. If you expect nothing of people, that does nothing for


them. Yes, you must help people, but you help people by putting up


ladders that they can climb through their own efforts. You do not help


children by dumbing down education, you help them by pushing them hard.


Good education is not about equality of outcomes, but bringing out the


best in every child. You do not help people by leaving them stuck on


welfare, but by helping them stand on their own two feet just why?


Because the best way out of poverty is work, and the dignity that


brings. We know that profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise,


these are not dirty, elitist words. They are not the problem. They are


the solution, because it is not government that creates jobs, it is


businesses. It is businesses which get wages in people's pockets, food


on the tables, and yes, success for our country. There is no short cut.


There is no short cut to a land of opportunity, no quick fix, no easy


way to do it. You build it, business by business, school by school,


person by person Tom patiently, practically, painstakingly, and


underpinning it all is that deep, instinctive belief that if you trust


people and give them the tools, they will succeed. This party at its


heart is about big people, strong communities, responsible businesses,


a bigger society, not a bigger state. It's how we've been clearing


up the mess. And it's how we're going to build something better in


its place. So let's stick with it going to build something better in


and finish the job we've started. A land of opportunity starts in our


economy. The chance to get a decent job. To start a business. To own a


home. And at the end of it all - more money in your pocket. To get


decent jobs for people, you've got to recognise some fundamental


economic facts. We are in a global race today. No one owes us a living.


Last week, our ambition to compete in the global race was airily


dismissed as a race to the bottom - that it means competing with China


on sweatshops and India on low wages. No - those countries are


becoming our customers, and we've got to compete with California on


innovation, Germany on high-end manufacturing, Asia on finance and


technology. And here's something else you need to recognise about


this race. The plain fact is this. All those global companies that


employ lots of people - they can set up anywhere in the world. They could


go to Silicon Valley. To Berlin. And yes, here in Manchester. And these


companies base their decisions on some simple things: like the tax


rates in each country. So if those taxes are higher here than


elsewhere, they don't come here. And if they don't come here, we don't


get those jobs. Do you get that, Labour? British people don't get


those jobs. Last week, Labour proposed to put up corporation tax


on our biggest and most successful employers. That is just about the


most damaging, nonsensical, twisted economic policy you could possibly


come up with. We will fight it every step of the way. I get to visit some


amazing factories in my job. One of my favourites is Jaguar Land Rover,


not just because they actually let me get in a car and drive it around


on my own. Quite dangerously, actually. I drove a mini off the


production line. It was a huge treat, but when I got to the end, I


turned the wrong way, although you will be relieved to know on this


occasion, I turned right, rather than left. But the reason I find


these places so fulfilling its because I meet people who are so


proud of their work and aircraft Manship, the fact that what they are


making cells around the world, that it is the best of British design and


engineering. So when Ed Miliband talks about the face of big


business, I think about the faces of these hardworking people. Labour is


saying to their employers: "We want to put up your taxes, don't come


here - stick your jobs and take them elsewhere". I know that bashing


business might play to a Labour audience. But it's crazy for our




to back business. Regulation - down. Taxes - cut for businesses large and


small. A new industrial policy that looks to the future - green jobs,


aerospace jobs, life science jobs. We've made a good start: 1.4 million


new jobs created in our private sector since we came to office, and


that is 1.4 million reasons to finish the job we've started. In a


land of opportunity, it must be easier to start your own business.


You heard from Jermaine, and incredibly inspiring story this


morning. To all those people who strike out on their own, who sit


there night after night, checking and double checking whether the


numbers stack up, I say I have so much respect for you - you are


national heroes. I'll never forget watching Samantha do just that -


winning her first customer, sorting out the cash flow, that magic moment


when she got her first business cards printed. I was incredibly


proud of her then, and I am incredibly proud of you now. People


setting up new businesses need finance. That's why we've brought in


start-up loans. They need their taxes cut - and we're doing it - up


to £2000 off your National Insurance bill for every small business. And


it's working. Let me tell you how many businesses have started up in


Britain since the election: over 300,000. That is 300,000 more


reasons to finish the work we've started. In a land of opportunity,


more people must be able to own a home of their own. You know that old


saying, your home is your castle? Well, for most young people today,


their home is their landlord's. Generation Y is starting to become


Generation Why Do We Bother? Millions of them stuck renting when


they're desperate to buy. I met a couple on Sunday - Emily and James.


They both had decent jobs, but because they didn't have rich


parents, they couldn't get a big enough deposit to buy a house. And


let me tell you where I met them. In their new home, bought with our Help


to Buy mortgage scheme. It was still half built, but they showed me where


the kitchen would be. Outside, there was rubble all over the ground, but


they'd already bought a lawn-mower. And they talked about how excited


they were to be spending a first Christmas in a home of their own.


That is what we're about, and this, the party of aspiration, is going to


finish the job on home ownership that we've started. In a land of


opportunity, there's another thing people need, the most important


thing of all, more money in their pockets. These have been difficult


years. People have found it hard to make ends meet. That's why we've


frozen council tax, and why we are freezing fuel duty. But we need to


do more. I know that. We've heard Labour's ideas to help with the cost




free childcare - then saying that actually, you've got to pay for it.


And an energy promise they admitted 24 hours later they might not be


able to keep. It's all sticking plasters and quick fixes, cobbled


together for the TV cameras. Red Ed and his Blue Peter economy. Britain


can do better than that lot. To raise living standards in the long


term, you need to do some major things. You need to cut the deficit


to keep mortgage rates low. You need to grow your economy, get people


jobs, and yes - cut people's taxes. I want people to keep more of their


money to spend as they choose. We've already cut the taxes of 25 million


hardworking people, and yes - that is 25 million more reasons to finish


the job we've started. And while we are on taxes, let me get one thing


straight. I don't know whether you caught the Lib Dem conference a


couple of weeks ago. No? I missed a bit, too. But they were tried to




twisting our armed to do it. Well, memo to the Lib Dems. You lecturing


us on low taxes is like us lecturing you on pointless constitutional


tinkering. We're Tories. We believe in low taxes. And believe me - we


will keep on cutting the taxes of hardworking people. And here in


Manchester, let me say this. When I say a land of opportunity for all, I


mean everyone, north and south. This country has been too London-centric


for far too long. That's why we need a new North-South railway line. The


fact is this. The West Coast mainline is almost full. We have to


build a new railway, and the choice is between another old-style,


Victorian one or a high speed one. Just imagine if someone had said,


no, we can't build the M1, or the Severn Bridge, imagine how that


would be hobbling our economy today. HS2 is about bringing North and


South together in our national endeavour. Because think of what


more we could do with the pistons firing in all parts of our country.


With its wind and wave power, let's make the Humber the centre of clean


energy. With its resources under the ground, let's make Blackpool the


centre of Europe for the shale gas industry. With its brains and


research centres, let's make here in Manchester the world leader in


advanced materials. We're building an economy for the North and South,


embracing new technologies, producing things and selling them to


the world. So make no mistake who's looking forward in British politics.


We'll leave the 1970s-style socialism to others. We are the


party of the future. We're making progress. You know how I know that?


It's every week, at Prime Minister's Questions. There was a time when I'd


look across to Ed Balls, and there he was, shouting his head off, doing


this with his hands, screaming that the economy was flat-lining, ,and


all with such glee. But recently, it's gone a bit quiet. Could it be


because there was no double dip and the economy's now growing? Well,


I've got a gesture of my own for Ed Balls. And don't worry - it's not a


rude one. Jobs are up, construction is up, manufacturing is up, inward


investment, retail sales, home-building, business confidence,


consumer confidence - all these things are up. And to anyone who


wants to talk our economy down, let me tell you this. Since this




wings made in Britain. Every single day in this country, over 4,000 cars


are coming off the production line - ready to be exported around the


globe. Last year, Britain overtook France as Germany's top trading


partner, not bad for a nation of shop-keepers. And that's the point.


Exports to China are up, eExports to Brazil are up, exports to India,


Russia, Thailand, South Korea, Australia - all up. So let us never


forget the cast-iron law of British politics. Yes - the oceans can rise,






A land of opportunity means educating our children, and I mean


all our children. It's OK for the children who have parents reading


them stories every night. And that's great, but what about the ones at


the back of the class, in the chaotic home, in the home of the


drug addict or alcoholic? We need these children - and frankly, they


need us. That's why three and a half years ago, one man came into the


Department of Education, ,Michael Gove. There he is. He has this huge


belief in excellence and massive energy, like a cross between Mr


Chips and the Duracell bunny. Let's look at the results. Let's see what


Chips and the Duracell bunny. Let's the bunnies achieved. More students


studying proper science. More children learning a foreign


language. He's ended the dumbing down in exams. For the first time,


children in our schools will learn the new language of computer coding.


And we're sending a clear message to children: if you fail English and


maths GCSE, you're going to have to take and retake them again until you


pass. Because as I tell my own children, there's not a job in the


world where you don't need to spell and add up properly. Unless you want


to join Labour's front bench economic team, of course. And It is


not a career I would recommend. Ultimately, and Michael understands


this, really raising standards means innovation, it means choice, it


means giving passionate people the freedom to run our schools. Heard


about it this morning. And that is what free schools are all about. I


will never forget sitting in the classroom, the next school that this


brilliant chain has set up, and I met a mother there who said to me,


this is what I have dreamt of for my child's - proper uniforms, high


standards, really high expectations. This is going to give my child a


great start in life. When Michael Howard asked me what job I would


like in the shadow cabinet, I said education, because what Michael is


doing now, these are the kinds of things I came into politics to bring


about. They are magnificent, these schools, it is great what we are


doing, we must keep it up. And do you know what is extraordinary about


these free schools? Label's official policy is to be against them. But


get this, there are Labour MPs who are backing them in their own local


areas. And not just any Labour MPs. I promise I am not making this up -


the shadow Education Secretary, Stephen Twigg, has backed a free


school in his own city. But me give you a day in the life of Stephen


Twigg. At 8am, I am on national radio, saying, free schools are


terrible. But come the afternoon, I am back home with my placard,


shouting, what do we want? A free school. When do we wanted? Now.


Isn't it unbelievable? But isn't it always the way with the left, they


do not like privilege, unless of course it is for their own children.


Well, we in this party must be ambitious for all our children, and


we must finish job we started. We have now got technical colleges run


by great companies like JCB. I say, let's have one of those colleges in


every single major town in our country. We have had 1 million


apprenticeships start under this government, and you heard this


morning from Samantha. I say, let's set a new expectation, as you leave


school, you have a choice - go to university or do an apprenticeship.


And while we have got children leaving school not able to read,


write or add up properly at the end of primary school, let us set this


ambition for our country, let us eliminate illiteracy and give


everyone of those children a chance. And my friends, as we do all this,


we must remember, the most vulnerable children of all. There


are thousands of children every year who broke up in homes where nappies


and bedclothes go unchanged, and where there cries of pain go


unheard. These children just need the most basic opportunity of all, a


loving family. Two years ago, at our conference, I told you about our


determination to speed up adoption. This past year, we saw record


numbers finding permanent, loving homes. 4000 children adopted. And


that is 4000 more reasons to finish the job that we have started. And as


we keep on with this, we should remember who is on the front line. I


have to take some tough decisions in my job, but none are as tough as


whether to break up a family and rescue a child, or try and stitch


that family back together. Social work is a noble and vital calling. I


that family back together. Social will never forget, after our son


Ivan was warned, social worker, sitting patiently in our kitchen,


and telling us the sort of help that we might need. This government has


helped to get some of the brightest graduates into treating, we have now


pledged to do the same for social work. So let us now in this hall


here it for Britain's social workers, who do such a vital job in


our country today. The land of opportunity needs one


final thing - welfare that really works. We know how badly things went


wrong. Our fellow citizens working every hour of everyday to put food


on the table, asking this - why should my taxes go to people who


could work, but don't, or to those who live in homes that hard-working


people could never afford? Or two people who have no right to be here


in the first place? And I say this to the British people - you have


every right to be angry about a system which is unfair and unjust,


and that is why we are sorting it out. We have welfare, capped housing


benefit. We insisted on new rules so that if you reject works, you lose


benefits. Let us be absolutely clear - as Boris said in that great speech


yesterday, the problems in our welfare system and immigration


system, they are inextricably linked. If we do not get our people


back to work, we should not be surprised if millions wants to come


here to work. But we must act on immigration directly as well, and we


are. Capping migration, clamping down on the bogus colleges, and when


the immigration bill comes before Parliament, we will make sure that


some simple and fair things which should always have been the case


will be set in stone. If you are not entitled to our free National Health


Service, you should pay for it. If you have no right to be here, you


cannot rent a flat or a house, not of the council, not off anyone else.


When you are a foreign prisoner, you should pay your own legal bills. And


if you appeal, you must do it from your own country, after you have


been deported, not from here. And on these huge national problems,


we are making progress. Immigration has come down. On welfare, not only


are there more people in work than ever before, but the number of


households where no one works is at its lowest rate since records began.


households where no one works is at And I want to thank the most


determined champion of social justice that this country has, Iain


Duncan Smith. Iain Duncan Smith understands that


this is not about fixing systems, it is about saving lives, and that is


why we have got to finish the job we have started. There are still over 1


million young people not in education, employment or training.


And today, it is still possible to leave school, to sign on, find a




Isn't it time for bold action here? We should ask, as we write our next




should give young people a clear and positive choice - go to school, go


to college, do an apprenticeship, get a job, but we have not to offer


to college, do an apprenticeship, them something better than just


choosing the dole. And let know one paint ideas like this as callous.


Think about it. With your own children, would you dream of just




nothing? No, you would do anything to get them on their way, and so


must we. So, this is what we want to see - everyone under 25 earning or


learning. And we know, we know that on this, as on everything else,


Labour will fight us. But we must remember, we are giving people real


opportunities. I have had people say to me, I am back on my feet, I feel


worthwhile. One wrote to me, saying, now I can tell my some that his dad


really does something. This is what our party is about. We do not


patronise people, but a benefit cheque in their hand and pat them on


the head, we look people in the eye as equals, and say, yes, you have


been down but you are not out, you can do it, we will give you that


chance. That is why we will say today that it is this party which is


fighting for all of those who are bitten off by Labour. It is this


party which is for the many, not the few. Yes, the land of despair was


Labour, but the land of hope is Tory.


So, we have done some big things to transform our country, but we need


to finish the job we have started. We need to go further, to do more


for hard-working people, to give more children a chance, back more


businesses, help create more jobs. I am clear about how that job will


best gets done. It requires a strong government, with a clear mandate,


which is accountable for what it promises and yes, what it delivers.


And I want to tell everyone here what that means. When that election


comes, we will not be campaigning for a coalition, we will be fighting


head, heart and soul for a majority Conservative government, because


that is what our country needs! You know there are some strange


moments in this job. When I was just a few months in, a member of my


staff rushed into the office and said, Prime Minister, you have


really made it, they are burning an effigy of you on television.


Actually, the first time it happened, they did not spell my name


right. They do not make that mistake any more. But you do not do this to


be popular. You do it cause you love your country. I do the best I can,


and for me, it comes back to some simple things - country first, do


what is decent, think long-term. There is an old story which is told


about a great Hall in Oxford, near my constituency. For hundreds of


years, it stood there, held up with vast oak beams, and in the 19th


century, those beans needed replacing. And do you know what they


found? 500 years before, someone had thought, those beans, they will need


replacing one day, and so they had planted some oak trees. Just think


about that. Centuries have passed, Columbus had reached America,


gravity had been discovered, and when those oak trees were needed,


they were ready. Margaret Thatcher once said, we are in the business of


planting trees for our children and grandchildren, all we have no


business being in politics at all. That is what we are doing today, not


just making do and mending, but making something better. Since I got


to my feet, almost 100 children have been born across our country,


to my feet, almost 100 children have children of wealth and children of


none, children of parents in work, and children of parents out of


work. For every single one of those newborn babies, that is pledged


today that we will build something better, a land of opportunity, a


country built on that end during principal that if you work hard,


save, played by the rules and do your fair share, then nothing should


stand in your way. A new economy, a new welfare system, a new set of


values in our schools, not just fixing the mess we inherited, but


building something better. We have got a year and a half until that


election, until Britain makes a choice, move forward to something


better go back to something worse. But I believe that if this party


with all we have, then this country will make the right choice. Because


we always have before. Whenever we have had the choice of giving in to


some shabby, from eyes or pushing forward to something better, we have


said, this is Great Britain, the improbable hero of history, the


country that does not give in, that knows there is no such thing as


destiny, only our determination to succeed. So, I look forward to our


future, and I am confident. Beyond this all, there are millions of


hard-working people who renew the great in Great Britain every day, in


the way they work, the way they give, the way they raise their


families. These are the people we have alongside us. Together we have


made it this far. Together, we will finish the job we have started. And


together, we will build that land of opportunity.


STUDIO: and the faithful get to their feet. The prime minister spoke


for just under an hour. No new policy announcements. A reiteration


of themes we had been told in advance, well worn Conservative


themes. We got all the phrases that were leaked to the media last night.


Land of opportunity, profit not a word. The prime minister bringing


his wife onto the stage now to take the applause of the conference.


Quite a lot of Labour and Miliband bashing going on. The Labour


government of years gone by, he attacked for a casino economy and


welfare Society and broken education system. Then he bashed the current


Labour leadership for bashing business. His constant plea was to


be allowed to finish the job. He gave strong support for the


high-speed train project, and he revealed the staggering revelation


that he wants an overall majority. Quite unusual for a party leader, I


suppose. I think he just wanted to reassure the Conservative Party


faithful that while they suspect he likes coalition, he said no, I want


an overall majority at the next election. So, we did not really


learn anything new, but we learnt the general pitch of the


Conservatives as they had up to the 2015 election, which is, we are on


the way, the recovery is here, don't hand the keys back to Labour, let


the Conservatives finished the job with an overall majority. So, they


used to give very long standing ovations, but not any more. Even at


Conservative conferences, they have sat down and the speech is over. Our


man who was listening to it all, let's go to him. What did you make


of it? I will say this quickly before I am surrounded by delegates,


but I don't think this was one of Mr Cameron's more memorable speeches,


and almost deliberately so. It was a sort of holding pattern speech where


the core message seemed to be come hang on in there, we can get through


this, but there is quite a way to go. I was struck by this,


pre-briefing. We were told that it would strike on to mystic note, a


sense of a dawn beginning to break over the arid plains of austerity.


It was a sober speech in many ways, Mr Cameron saying, we are not


thereby a long way. If we deviate off the course, look at what


happened to our Greek friends. In that sense, the message was, we will


happened to our Greek friends. In have two keep making difficult


economic decisions, and there is a long haul to go. There were the


obvious crowd-pleasing moments, attacks on Labour, Red Ed and Blue


Peter economics. There was that riposte to President Putin's jibe,


saying, we beat you in the Olympics, and where is the bestselling vodka


made? In Fife. There were good pieces to it, but quite a tough sell


for a Tory party activist, which is, we will have to keep doing this. It


is going to be difficult, hang on in there. Do we have a clear idea, as


the English conference season comes to an end, of the dividing lines


between the parties as we head into what will probably be the longest


election campaign in British history? We have a clear sense from


here of what the Tory pitch will be, which will basically be, it's the


economy, stupid, and we are the ones who know how to run the economy.


Their argument about the cost of living is that the only way to deal


with the crisis is not quick fixes with freezing gas prices or doing


more on childcare. The only way to solve the cost of living crisis is


to sort out the economy, because that is the only way people will


stay in jobs and get paid and mortgages will stay low and


businesses will grow and so on. In other words, their argument is,


trust us with the economy. That is a difficult argument when living


standards are still being squeezed, which is why I think this speech was


largely a holding speech. It was not the big oratorical flourish before


the next election. It was pretty much, we are moving in the right


direction. The economy is slowly turning, but we are nowhere near


there yet. It was an appeal for turning, but we are nowhere near


patients in many ways, which is always a difficult sell. People want


things now, they want a good times. Mr Cameron can't offer that.


Instead, he has this offer that he is leading us to this land of


opportunity, a sort of biblical allusion to the commerce land. But


it is still a way away, and he pretty much told people it was.


Michael Heseltine, I have had politicians on the left and right


promise me the land of opportunity since I was in short trousers. When


am I going to get there? Well, by any standards, if you look back over


decade after decade, standards rise. But the important part of that


speech to me was that no one can now say we don't know what David Cameron


believes in. He has spelt out in the clearest, most articular language is


passionate concern for the whole spectrum of society. There were


interesting sections about social workers, about the need to provide a


dramatic improvement in the low levels of education in the West


schools, a salute to the military. And to social workers. I mentioned


that. He believes in it passionately. This was a one nation


speech, in my view a very thorough and honest beach. -- speech. He did


not say it is all fine. He said, it is a hell of a past, and I am not


going to kid you into thinking we have achieved everything. What he


said was realistic and passionate, and it was across-the-board and


appealed to the middle ground, exactly what he should do. So you


are no doubt that David Cameron is foursquare in your tradition of the


Conservative Party? He is a one nation Conservative. That is why the


Conservatives have done so much better since he became leader. Of


course, he has not finished the job, but my view is that that is the


right appeal, clearly and soberly presented, and I was impressed with


the comprehensive nature of his speech will stop but he is a one


nation Conservative with one seat in Scotland and no seats in any major


city in the north. You have few seats in Wales. You are essentially


a party of the South and the Southeast. That is the party David


Cameron inherited. My own view is that that is the speech that could


turn the corner. It is a huge task, but in my view, he charted the


course. But he has this difficult balancing act. I was speaking


earlier to Nick Robinson, that on the one hand it is perceived,


rightly or wrongly, that Labour has moved to the left on the Mr


Miliband, so Mr Cameron, being a natural centrist, will want to


occupy that ground. That was partly what he was trying to do today. On


the other hand, the real threat to him comes from his right flank. How


do you occupy the centre ground and sea off the threat of UKIP in the


marginal seats? Face them down. If they want Miliband, they have just


got to vote UKIP. It is a simple equation. My own view is that faced


with that stark decision which will become apparent by polling day, most


Conservatives will come back because they can't stomach that process. It


is a tough call for the prime minister, though, to say we are the


aspiration party, when the social base from which the Conservative


Party draws its people gets narrower and narrower, the appeal of the


party regionally gets more and more narrow. It is going in the opposite


party regionally gets more and more direction from the rhetoric. But you


should salute that, because that is a leader, that is integrity, that is


analysing the problem and addressing the real problem which you have


described, the lack of northern representation. But is Mr Cameron's


challenge. Did he run from it? No. Did he pander to the extreme right?


No. It was an impressive speech. Did he pander to the extreme right?


Let's go to Education Secretary Michael Gove. He was described as a


combination of Mr chips and the juror sell Bunny -- your cell


Bunny. Michael Gove, welcome to the Daily Politics. What did Mr Cameron


tell us that we did not know already? He told us that there is a


straightforward choice at the next election between going backwards to


the 1970s or embracing the future. The most of us, that was clear


beforehand, but we saw an articulation of what image are to


Conservative government can achieve -- a majority Conservative


government can achieve. That made me embrace a renewed relish for the


fight. David Cameron laid out a programme to make us a land of


opportunity, a country which can have the world's best education


system and the world's most innovative economy. We knew that was


what he wanted already. I am not sure that told us anything new. It


was a policy free conference speech should. Do you think these sorts of


things will catch on? The whole point about conference speeches is


things will catch on? The whole that they are not there to please


journalists, they are there to make an argument. The argument the prime


minister made is the argument the country will have to wrestle with


over the next 18 months. Forward or back. For a lot of people who had


the chance to hear the prime minister, they will not be checking


off on a list every new policy, like the journalists. People will be


listening to a prime minister articulating with clarity, force,


authority and passion, a course this country needs to take in the future.


There were elements of the speech which people may not have


appreciated. We are changing the curriculum in our schools to make


sure every child can learn to code. I am sure people do not appreciate


the extent to which there is a manufacturing revival going on in


this country, and I am sure people also don't appreciate how much this


government is doing to help those at the front line of public services,


social workers. I suspect you did not know that this government is


investing in attracting the very best into social worker in an


innovative scheme which deserves the support of all of us. If you had had


a pound for every time you heard party leaders talk about the land of


opportunity and profits not being a dirty word, you would be a rich man


and you can retire, couldn't you? Mrs Thatcher said the facts of life


are Conservative, and sometimes it is important for leaders to remind


us of some of those principles. Among some, there can sometimes be a


certain cynicism about politics, a belief that they are all the same.


Act Chile, over the last fortnight, we have seen a cage was between one


party leader, Ed Miliband, who is looking back nostalgically to the


1970s and state control, price control, wage control, and another


prime minister who is embracing the future, who is part of a broad


consensus now among world leaders that in order to ensure that our


people have the best opportunities in the future, we need to improve


our education so that every child has access to a high quality


academic education, and we also need to grow our economy to take


advantage of the opportunities of globalisation. Energy prices are


crippling families on average and below family incomes. If I ask Mr


Miliband what he will do about it, he says he will freeze energy prices


until he sorts out the market. How many paragraphs will you need to


explain what you are going to do about it? We are going to sort out


the market. How? As you are aware, energy is a complex and highly


regulated area of the economy. You are making this up as you go along.


You don't know how you will sort out the market, do you? Well, I am not


the Energy Secretary. But I do know that we used to have a significantly


larger number of energy companies under the last Conservative


government. It was produced to six under Labour. I know the market


needs to be changed to ensure that we have greater competition. I know


we need to liberate industry to take advantage of the shale gas


revolution on our doorsteps. I know we need to make sure that


microgeneration works, which means making sure tariffs are right. A lot


of paragraphs. Of course, Andrew, but you can't have it both ways. You


ask me to talk about policy briefly. You can't. You ask me to sum up the


policy, I did. You said I don't know what I am talking about, and I


explain it in detail, and now you say it is too much. Andrew, I do


everything I can to satisfy you. Some folk just will not take yes for


an answer. it is reported that you are tended in Austria, and you had


your mobile phone is taken away, and you came back with a pair of


lederhosen style swimming trunks - say it is not true. Not all of it is


true. Well, that is what your no, she did not report that. The papers


reported I had lost two stone, I am afraid, I only lost one. As the


Prime Minister said in his speech, we have got to finish the job.


Should the Daily Mail apologise for Ed Miliband for what he said about


his father? No, newspapers should not apologise to politicians for


being robust. We need a free press, a press which is robust and


sometimes raucous, and which by definition will sometimes offend.


Unless you have a free press, you do not have an effective check on the


arrogance of politicians, so, I do not think politicians should tell


newspaper editors how to do their job. I think newspaper editors are


effectively doing their job when they upset us. And you are not


influenced in that view by the fact that your wife makes a larger salary


out of writing a column for the Daily Mail? My wife influences me in


many areas, but my views about the Daily Mail? My wife influences me in


media are on the record. I have the opportunity to appear in front of


Lord Justice Leveson, and I explained to him why I believed in a


free press come and I will make that case whenever I have the


opportunity, as I think it is a very precious freedom, and I think it is


a bad thing if politicians tried to cajole or colour as or influence


editors. What we should do is to make our argument to the people, to


the public, and make sure that a free press has the rights to be


vigorous, walkers, and yes, of course, at times, upsetting, but


that is the price we pay for liberty. One final point on


education, the teachers have been on strike this week over your plans to


introduce performance related pay - in no view, is teaching a vocation,


or is it a career choice motivated by financial reward? It is a


vocation. But one thing I know is that the headteachers who are


responsible for running the best schools in the country tell me that


performance related pay is a vital tool in making sure that all


children can get the very best education. We had a teaching union


leader from America's" yesterday, and he said initially he was opposed


to performance related pay, but eventually, he accepted the case,


and now, Washington, DC has moved from being one of the worst areas


for education in America to be in one of the most improved. Speak to


Amanda Phillips, who teaches in the East End of London, and who runs a


brilliant primary school there. And another fantastic headteacher from


the Midlands. Both of them will tell you that performance related pay is


a way of making sure that every child gets the best possible


education, and making sure that good teachers get paid more. Can we have


a cast-iron guarantee that you will not wear your lederhosen when you


come onto the Sunday politics? You have a cast-iron guarantee, Andrew.


But one thing I would like to do would be to invite you to join me in


pledging that over the next few weeks, both of us will try to do


pledging that over the next few everything we can in order to try to


be as fit and healthy as possible, because over the next sex sex romps,


there is a fight for the future of this country, -- over the next 18


months, there is a fight for the future of this country, and people


want you, Andrew, to be ready for that fight as well. Are you after


that Austrian spa? If he is paying. I think it is 2000 quid or


something. So, what did the party faithful make of Mr Cameron? I know


a man who can find out. Over to you, Adam. Yes, let's see what the


delegates thought. You have been waiting patiently - what did you


think of the speech? I thought he did fantastically well. He put a


clear dividing line between him and the Labour Party. I was struck by a


lot of it being a response to Ed Miliband, so does that mean a bigger


band is setting the terms of the debate? Not necessarily, but Ed


Miliband gave a very assured, good performance, identifying some key


issues. So, for Cameron to ignore that would have been folly. But


there was also a lot of other stuff which was clearly designed for the


cameras and broadcasting outside, a patriotic approach, which I think


was the right approach for him to take in this case. Frarncis Maude,


having a celebratory cup of tea. We will leave you to it. What was your


highlight of this speech? I loved the policies which were coming out


for people of my age, 22. Weighing houses, education, it is so


important. It is only our party which is showing a positive and


inclusive vision for Britain. Anything missing from the speech?


No, I think he covered everything we needed to hear, and gave us a clear


dividing line, whereby we are the party of opportunity, and the party


for the whole of Britain, as opposed to Labour, which is the party of the


few. We have got is very retro who wants to speak to The Daily Politics


live? What did you think of the speech? Absolutely brilliant. He


said everything that we all need to speech? Absolutely brilliant. He


know, reminding us of our roots, opportunity for everybody. When are


we going to be living in this land of opportunity? We have started. We


have a long way to go, David Cameron said that, and he is right. We are


only three and a half years into a government. Some people, the way


they say, you would think we have been in for a long time. We are


putting right what Labour got one, and it is taking some time, but we


are getting there. Briefly, land of Hope is Tory, do you think so?


Absolutely. This is the only party that gives hope. Now, finally, spare


a thought for that penniless, abused breed, the political sketch writer,


locked in the conference equivalent of livestock crates, fed on a diet


of warm, continental white wine, could be worse, and the odd press


release, poised for the dramatic event which may or may not happen.


They have not had a proper night's sleep for a month. One of the


finest, Quentin Letts, has been dutifully following events for us.


He has escaped from his great for this final dispatch, and we would


like to warn viewers that there is flash photography in this report. --


from his crate. You have got the blue banners sorted, the invitations


have been sent out, then someone has blue banners sorted, the invitations


to go and spoil it. Ladies and gentlemen, I am talking about


gate-crashers, attention seeking individuals trying to barge their


way into David and George's party. And they did not even have the


decency to bring a bottle of Blue Nunn. The first culprit, Nigel


Farage, muscling in on the fringe events, whispering words into the


ears of the Eurosceptic Bruce group, seductive words, like,


election pact - positively indecent! You are causing mischief, aren't


you? No, I am here to have a proper debate. You are teasing the


Conservative Party, gate-crashers number two, Alistair Campbell, Tony


Blair's nasty old spin doctor, who barged into the conference to


campaign on alcohol awareness, and barged into the conference to


to wait the few Tories. Nobody was safe. And continuing love for Mrs


Thatcher provided more discomfort, when party members were invited by


this programme to nominate their all-time favourite Prime Minister by


dropping blue balls into The Daily Politics mood box. Who has got more


balls, you Mrs Thatcher? Cheeky. But still, they could rely on the old


foot soldiers, couldn't they? That did not seem to be the case when the


Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond, received a full frontal assault from


a couple of ancient Fusiliers, both party members, who took exception to


their regiment being disbanded in the defence cuts. We are fortunate


indeed to have the best Armed Forces in the world, with the finest and


the bravest men and women serving in them. They are serving us now, as


they always serve us, round the clock. Would you like to sit down? I


will come and talk to you happily later on. Let me complete my speech.


This conference has been a bit more serious, for want of a better word,


This conference has been a bit more Thatcherite, then in recent years.


It is a bit like being at a gathering of accountants and


actuaries. Some of the conference gags have been a bit like that, too.


David and Ed Miliband, the greatest sibling rivalry since the Bible - -


Kane and not very able. Abu Qatada looked at him and asked, is crazy


may flying with me? I admit I was crazy, raising with the European


court of human rights. But when it comes to stealing the limelight,


there is only one man with the necessary showbiz sparkle, shimmy


neon -- shimmying onto the dance floor, Boris Johnson. Not so long


ago, I welcomed the former French Prime Minister Alain Juppe, and he


told me that he was now the mayor of Bordeaux. I think he may have been


when he was Prime Minister as well. It is the kind of thing they do in


France, a very good idea, in my view... What he said was... ! Joke!


How to sum up the week? I could tell you about Margaret Thatcher ironing


board covers which had to be taken off the shelves because they were


not heat resistant, I could tell you about David Cameron and his


bread-making machine, I could tell you about these lovely teddy bears


from the Conservative visible at a group. But really, this week has


been about money, welfare, jobs, money, money, money. That is how


they are going to play the next few months. So, lads, looks like you are


going to have to go out to work. Sorry about that. Well, I think


Quentin Letts can join us now. This is a great moment, because the long


three weeks of the conference season is now over, so we are feeling a


certain liberation, and I am sure you viewers may feel the same. Of


course, it is not quite over for the English conferences, as we always


have to say, but how did this Tory conference compared to the last


three? Well, very different people here. The more loony elements seem


to have disappeared, and they seem very serious and resolute and


determined to get on with what they are doing. This speech today was the


same, Suba, rather solid, not exciting. You could not accuse it of


same, Suba, rather solid, not being revolutionary, but that was


probably the idea. -- Sauber. It was a contrast to that rather wild, mad


speech which Miliband gave last week. Cameron being in the centre


ground, grown-up and solid. We will let you go and enjoy your freedom,


your liberation, in Manchester. Michael Heseltine, final four from


you? I think Cameron staked his claim to the centre ground. It was


not, as Quentin said, all about money, it was about caring for a


whole raft of people, in social work, in the military, in schools,


who are essentially public sector, at the forefront of the battle to


improve social conditions, and at the forefront of the battle to


Cameron cared passionately. No one can ever say again, we do not know


what he stands for. That is it for today. It is the end of the English


conference season. The Scottish Nationalists are meeting, strangely


enough, in Scotland. Thanks to viewers on the News Channel for


watching. Jo will be back tomorrow. I will be back tomorrow night on


This Week. James Langdale will have all of today's conference highlights


on BBC Two after Newsnight. So, that is it, we will be back tonight, not


us, but the team will be back, with the round-up, after Newsnight.




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