David Cameron's speech this afternoon didn't quite reach the giddy heights of last year but that wasn't the purpose. He wanted to set out where he saw the Party going over the next twelve months. And he wanted to address the issue of policy formation and the 'substance' question head on.
This week, in our debates, we will lay the foundations of the house we are building together. The foundations must come first. How superficial, how insubstantial it would be, for us to make up policies to meet the pressures of the moment. Policy without principle is like a house without foundations. It will not stand the test of time. That is what our Policy Review is all about: getting it right for the long term. If we do this, we can help achieve so much for this country. In a few years' time, Britain could wake up to a bright new morning. We have everything to be optimistic about.
You could not design a country with better natural advantages than we have. We speak the language of the world. We have links of history and culture with every continent on earth. We have institutions - our legal system, our armed forces, the BBC, our great universities - which set the standard that all other countries measure themselves by. Our artists, writers and musicians inspire people the world over. We are inventive, creative, irreverent and daring. In this young century, these old advantages give us the edge we need.
What a prospect for a great Party - to guide our nation at this time of opportunity. So let us stick to the plan.
Let us build - carefully, thoughtfully and patiently, a new house together. Preparing the ground as we move to the centre, meeting the priorities of the modern world. Laying the foundations with our idea - social responsibility.And building on those foundations with the right policies for our long-term future.
The nation's hopes are in our hands. People's hopes. Your hopes. My hopes.
The peroration was a mixture of Kennedy-esque language with a pseudo-religious overtone about light triumphing over dark.
In eight days' time I will be forty years old. I have so much to look forward to. My young family. They have so much to look forward to. The world I want for them is the world I want for every family and every community. If you want to know what I'm all about, I can explain it one word. That word is optimism. I am optimistic about human nature. That's why I will trust people to do the right thing. Labour are pessimists. They think that without their guidance, people will do the wrong thing. That's why they want to regulate and control. So let us show clearly which side we are on. Let optimism beat pessimism. Let sunshine win the day. And let everyone know that the Conservative Party is ready. Ready to serve. Ready to fight. Ready to win.
Today has been a good day. The conference has got off to a good start, although if you were standing in the accreditation queue for six hours you might not agree. It's a bloody disgrace that this has happened. CCO Conferences blame the Police, but I suspect the real cause is closer to home. I know of three people now who were told by CCO Conferences that the Police hadn't security cleared them, yet when they rang Dorset Police they were told that they had been processed weeks ago. Someone is telling Porkies. I think a few heads will roll over this, and deservedly so.
43 comments:
AAAAaaaah.... "let sunshine win the day".... shouldn't a smiley sun have been incorporated into the new crayoned tree picture?
What a lovely vision.
Do you really think that this will work?
i mean, we want to be persuaded, but we're not bloody infants.
Come on Dave
.. note from teacher.... tried hard, but could do so much better.
Can't you quit your job of sniping from the sidelines Iain, and tell the man that we're grown ups?
If we've got to envisage "letting the sunshine in"... we'll want the whole andrew lloyd webber , all-singing, all-dancing, power-pointing shamozzle please.
words, indeed. !
PS. C'mon Dave, we WANT to believe you.
Iain, are you happy with the result today? COME ON READING!!
i would like to see Cameron come up with something substantial, a few policies that give us something to mull over for the next few years.
I understand that whatever policies he puts forward may have to change or be thrown out alltogether depending on future events (Labour cock ups)
But now is the time that he should be setting out the stall for this countries future.
Wonder why he forgot to tell the English viewers that they are ignorant, sour little Englanders, who do not show enough respect to Scotland and that they ought to re-educate themselves?
No use just telling the Scots, is it? You have to tell "the English" or they won't know what thinks of them all.
"let sunshine win the day"
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/3326/4263/1600/sunface.jpg
I like DC, he is anti ID cards.
The sunshine ending was horrific. The rest of it wasn't too bad, even taking into account it isn't what one wants to hear.
"The nation's hopes are in our hands. People's hopes. Your hopes. My hopes." Who wrote his speech for him -- Tony Blair?
I watched the speech on Sky. i must say it came over very positive.
Iit appeared to inspire the interviewees after the speech including John Redwood.
He needs to inspire the ordinary man in the street, not the political hard noses. This should do it.
I thought the sunshine bit was the only down side to an otherwise excellent speech. I thought his tone was just right, and he answered his critics head on over the policy issue. He contrasted Labour, and pointed out their many failings. It was just right - so congrats to the people who put the speech together.
I do think he sounded like a Conservative as well - something that he is often accussed of not being.
Therefore, I look forward to hearing how the policies wil be fleshed out, and hopefully a nice juicy commitment to cutting taxes too!
I'm fairly non denominational in terms of party support.
The Tories weren't popular in the North East when I was a kid.
I will never, ever vote for the Labour party.
The Lib Dems got my vote in May 2005.
However, Cameron seems like the future of this country. His speech, although I didn't see it all was such a contrast to the meaningless nonsense of Tony Blair last week.
The Tories have plenty of time - do some good work between now and the next election and its in the bag!
Vote Dave and spend the rest of your life queuing, Soviet-style. Seems the Tories are still the incompetent party, after all.
Actually, martinfatguts, "Let The Sunshine In" was from "Hair."
Rather appropriate from the "heir" to "Blair."
For all the tories out there who are demanding tax cuts right away the ought to consider a few facts.
Yes we all want tax cuts, however there are a few obstacles that would need addressing to deliver them. If sweeping tax cuts were to be promised, the Labour party would be quick to point out that this would mean cuts in services and jobs. Much as I despise Labour they have a point. Most people in Britain are aware of the large inefficiencies in our public sector. By improving efficiency we could save massive amounts of money and provide tax cuts. Unfortunately most of the inefficiencies are a direct result of employing huge amounts of staff in the public sector. Most of these staff have nothing whatsoever to do with the delivery of the service, ie 'non jobs'. As a result even if these people acheived 100% efficiency it would have little impact on any service delivery. It follows therefore that to achieve any real savings requires Thousands of these people being made redundant and the recruitment and training of more staff on the sharp end. The numbers being recruited would be a lot less than the numbers being given the push. The front line staff would be a lot cheaper as well, their wages are usually a pittance compared to the dead heads back at base.
The upshot of all this is that thousands of so called managers would be unemployed with little prospects of future work, ( I mean who in their right minds would employ, Diversity managers, five a day co-ordinators, Service development Officers, Foetus ASBO co-ordinators etc, etc).
The result of all this is, if you anounce tax cuts thousands of floating voters are scared shitless for their jobs.
Anybody contememplating immediate tax cuts are going to have to square this circle.
Think about it and give Cameron a chance. He's got a bloody difficult job to do and sniping from the background wont help. Just for info I'm one of the biggest fans of capital punishment, flogging, lock em up and throw the key away, smoking in pubs, tax cuts, get out of europe and more. I've decided to join the real world, much as I might detest it. I know that my idea of Utopia is unelectable in the present world. I am happy for small improvements in my lot, in the right direction.
From some of the postings I read it appears that the Labour party does not have a monopoly of supporters living in Cloud Cuckoo land.
Hang on a minute Iain. Let's get this right.
In October 1998 I publish an exhaustively-researched book exposing how The Guardian helped bring down John Major's government and destroy the up-and-coming political star Neil Hamilton with a bogus story of political corruption concerning 'cash for questions' allegations - which Neil has always denied - and exposing how The Guardian escaped redress and succeeded in having Neil branded as corrupt by perverting the course of Sir Gordon Downey's inquiry into the affair.
Then, following publication of my book you write me a nice unsolicited letter dated 13 November 1998, telling me how much you enjoyed it and bolstering my spirit on the grounds of the number of copies you had sold despite the news blackout.
You explained at the time: "The media cannot ever accept that they have got something wrong."
Zip forward eight years. Now you write a column for the Guardian, and you quote the author of The Guardian's provably false 'cash for questions' story that led to the near destruction of the Tory Party, David Hencke, to sell the appeal of your iconoclastic blog.
Is this not firm evidence that you've now actually become a fully integrated, wholly dependent extension of the MSM, feeding off it just like Neil and Christine do, instead of challenging it now you're in a prime position to expose the truth about our media for the sake of our country's present and future generations?
All the best,
Jonathan Boyd Hunt
Cameron's speech?
I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow-white turtle doves
I'm sorry Ian, you have just lost all credibility with this piece of Idol worship. Where is the sunshine coming from again????????
Just posted about this on my own blog but I don't think that Cameron needs policy ideas at this point- strikes me waht he is carving out is attitude. You see for people like Martinfatguts its obvious that Tories are pleasant people but out in the electorate its not so obvious and that is what Cameron is convincing them of. He is setting the mood music which will lift him closer to power than the Tories have been since 97.
You think people should lose their jobs becuase of a mistake with conference passes?
That's harsh, even for a Tory.
`Our artists, writers and musicians inspire people the world`. Yes and they are locked into a Liberal establishment agenda that secretly erodes the rock we stand on . David is right that we have to think about why you could just about wear a Labour tee shirt and be trendy but not a Conservative one . It sounds silly I know but I have a great interest in the arts and loathe the constant drip drip torture of left wing plays , poetry, music and media attitudes that always seem to set the agenda.
I am greatly encourage by what DC has been saying about tax and feel a bit skittish to have got so fed up with him. This went back to the 9 11 Maggie bashing incident which I still feel was a dreadful mistake and crossed a line that he must not cross.He has gone along way to calm fears and I hoorahed the suggestion of simplifying tax
All in all it could be a lot worse
All superficial style - zero substance - sliding left to accommodate the MSM.
Perhaps I'm being infantile, but I liked what I've just read. I'm not a Tory, but I despise what Blair has done/is doing. Despite my upbringing and better judgement, Cameron's message is reaching me at the moment and I will keep listening.
The socialist in me, though, has to comment on this
"standing in the accreditation queue for six hours..."
Was it that bad?! Three million unemployed under Thatcher, and outside the job centre, now THAT'S a queue Iain! ;)
Dont understand this need to embrace the public services. When were they not embraced. Thatcher and Magor run the country for 18 years. We still had a NHS and a state education system afterwards. Spending on which exceaded the rate of inflation on every one of those 18 years.
So this stuff is not new the Conservative Party never was what the media and especialy the BBC spend 18 or more years representing it as.
Conservatives should not be depressed or apologetic. Even though this government has been crimaly incompetent and just plain criminal in the last 10 years lots of very BAD things have NOT happened.
Among others a return to
1 Massive and regular public sector strikes.
2 Import controlls
3 Exchange controlls
4 24% inflation
5 Government by trade union
6 98% top rate of income tax
7 National bankcruptcy
8 Nationalisation
The Tory party can not get elected promising to correct things which they have already sorted out in the past, and have not so far come back.
In the sixties and seventies Conservative MPs campaigned on the ticket of spending and collecting tax payers money more wisely, not reducing tax in tottal.
Not because it was a good idear but simply because they would never get into power or have the cash to stay there if they did it any other way.
So nothing has changed. Its just that David Cameron is fighting a personal war with the British media, because thats just how it is in 2006.
The pass issue disgraces the party. I was sat with 6 fellow members tonight 3 of whom had still not got their parties. I didn't have the heart to tell them that I'd had one of the best days of my political life.
It's a bit sad, but I re-read the speech after I saw him deliver it today, and I think it is really good, and gives us a lot of insight into DC's thinking!
I like the way that he is positioning 'social responsibility' as central to current Tory thinking. I think that re-positioning us in the centre is essential to widen our appeal, and I really like the fact that he is talking about issues which are the ones which interest the electorate, and not just the party. He is right to do this!
I also really liked the fact that he really laid out the difference of perspectives over the 'state' and 'social' form of responsibility - I think it shows that at heart he does believe in smaller government/bigger people!
However, I do hope that in time the policy review will also come up with some policies which will appeal to economic 'dries' like me, as well as social liberals and greens. After all, smaller governemnts require less taxes!
I think there is a moral case for lowering taxes - particularly for the poor.
I would like David Cameron to correct the impression that Tax Cuts are an immoral and greedy request. He seems to say to the Liberals of whom he is an amorous suitor ..`I`d like to help but my partner you see…. He`d dreadful , he wants nasty tax cuts”
Yes they are required to make the UK competitive (which he said ) but also so families are not under such pressure that we are literally failing to replace ourselves. What we see around us is immoral.
I think he has gone along way on this though
I liked the speech a lot:
http://sinclairsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/10/camerons-speech.html
Re Passes - it was CCO, not the police. Their handling of it, like most anything that requires organisation, was appalling. They almost didn't at least one of their key speakers yesterday and the pass application went out in July!
Cameron still worries me. You mentioned Kennedyesque and that's the thing - there was rhetoric but I want to see some policies. Of course he's the only one to vote for and yet ...
So Mr Cameron says..............................
"You could not design a country with better natural advantages than we have. We speak the language of the world. We have links of history and culture with every continent on earth. We have institutions - our legal system, our armed forces, the BBC, our great universities - which set the standard that all other countries measure themselves by. Our artists, writers and musicians inspire people the world over. We are inventive, creative, irreverent and daring. In this young century, these old advantages give us the edge we need". Is that right David????
Pity we are throwing our heritage down the pan by our continued membership of the vile EU which is now costing this country £100000 each hour.
Question. When are the Conservatives going to throw out of their party in Europe those who supported the "YES" vote in France last year?
That'll do for a Yom Kippur morning.
James Higman: I undersand your concern about lack of policies, but I do think that - just as Labout did - spouting in-depth policy at this point would be premature.
I think however that we can draw 'inferences' about what the general themes and directions are going to be can't we? He will be widening the areas of thinking to issues like child care, globalisation, carbon emmissions, and life-quality issues, as well as the usual Tory issues - smaller state, security and public services.
Let's give him another 12 months - I think he will grow on a lot of people.
He is without doubt a Tory - and he has shown that. He is just seeking to emphasise the aspects of conservatism which are relevant to the needs of today's society.
It was interesting to see how the whole day was about making the party feel comfortable with change! It was a very 'Burkean' approach. The overall message was 'change is constant'. Burke was even quoted I think "a nation which is without the means to change is without the means to conserve itself". Not 'change for changes sake' (this is the Blairist/leftist aproach'), but 'changing what needs to be changed, reforming what needs to be reformed, and preserving what needs to be preserved'.
The difficulty though is agreeing what need to be saved, and what needs to be ditched!
aeaA very flimsy performance, if I may be so bold.
Nobody's fooled by a bit of spin in this New Century.
OK, so Dave promoted Dave. Nothing wrong with that, but 'Labour are pessimists'? 'The Tories are united'?
Wrong on both accounts and nobody believes it. Simply because it is a lie.
I wanted Dave to tell me that I will be richer for being Conservative. That my children will benefit also and that the passage to old age will be pleasant and secure.
The Tories are good and Labour are bad.That appears to be the message.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Thatcher is dead, yes. Dave is alive (so i'm told), well OK..ish.
But what is the Tory party all about. Someone please tell me because the Tories don't want to.
Gordon is laughing today.
Doom.
Well I'm a Tory leaning female voter and I thought this was an encouraging start - and that this was a speech meant for wider consumption not just for the party members. DC explained what his and the party's philosophy is ("social responsibility" sounded like good old-fashioned Conservative principles to me); it was aimed particularly at voters who are perhaps not so well acquainted with what the party has stood for now and in the past. No good coming out with a load of policies, but not having an overarching philosophy behind it. I thought the house building metaphor was a good one. Overall, given the party's difficulties, it was an optimistic speech which made me smile and made me feel hopeful after years of despair under Labour (I actually liked the "sunshine" metaphor - simple and memorable). Of course, the media has predictably launched into its mantra about "style over substance" - but if you listened to the speech properly, DC explains why he's not coming out with detailed policies right now. Anyway, even if they were to announce any half-decent policies, Labour would nick'em and pass them off as their own - it's happened before when Michael Howard and his predecessors were in charge. Therefore I don't blame them keeping their cards close to their chest in the short term at least. To sum up: I agree with another earlier commenter on here, that we should give them another 12 months before we start getting too twitchy about lack of detail.
YALLAND
`appeal to economic 'dries' like me, as well as social liberals and greens. .......................
I think there is a moral case for lowering taxes - particularly for the poor.`
I agree with this but would extend the range of concern above the poor to the middling who are so burdened as to be failing to reproduce themselves.
DC gave a telling hint about tax simplification that as everyone knows would make reduction electorally possible . I really feel he has gone as far as he can bearing in mind what tax cuts means to those whose votes are required in marginals.
I am vastly encouraged by this and feel Redwood and co are somewhat onanistic asking for defeat this way
Incidentally A DRAIN have you noticed that trusting people is not extended to his own party ..Moving on,I like his silly suggestion that tax cuts will fuel inflation and force interest rates up. Inflation is caused by the money supply and unless tax is collected and kept in a box this is nonsense. However it does feel as if that is exactly what they do sometimnes....
refer back to gag under latest Muslim thingy which I was rather pleased with
dv at 10:36. sliding left to accommodate the MSN:
Much of Cameron's slither to the left is to accommodate the EU.
Newmania:: I am not against tax cuts for the middle classes (and I certianly didn;t imply that I am), and would welcome 'across the board' tax cuts as that means smaller government in general.
But if it was possible to help only one group throughh reducing taxation, the 'working poor' should be the first to benefit - for both moral and economic reasons.
Having just come from a fringe meeting where Mr. Redwood spoke (and where he tried to show just how much he was in agreement with the front bench - yet went on to show exactly where he didn't agree with them, and where Edward Leigh was having an epileptic fit and calling George Osbourne all kinds of unrepeatable things to a group of journalists he was talking to - watch out for the 'Tory Tax Row' story in the Daily Mail tomorrow), I am firmly of the opinion that there is nothing moral about a government legally stealing your money, then wasting it on things which do nothing to benefit you, and then take a cut of it for themselves as a reward!
I am desperate to see the Tory party stand up and make the moral and economic argument for tax cuts, just as I am despeate to see them stand up and make the moral case for more Grammar schools, reducing C02 emmissions, more women MPs, less red tape, fewer political institutions, improvements in the NHS which benefit everyone through greater us eof the private sector, increasing percentage of GDP given to aid to 1% - and much more besides.
I think the time is right for such a discussion on tax - and if we don't stand up and say this, then we are effectively saying "everything we have said for the past 30 years about low tax economies doing better and being fairer is untrue, and actually, Labour where right all along".
I can't see ANYONE in the Tory party saying that (not now Grocer Ted has gone to the great concert hall in the sky)
PS. Why don't you call me Adrain instead of 'Yalland' or 'A Drain' (which is sooooooo original). It might also make you sound like less of an arrogant tosser and more like someone whose words are sometimes worth reading.
With a government like Bliar's, the tories should be 20 points ahead.
Indeed, they should have won the last election.
This speech does not say anything of substance. Social responsibility ? What is that ? Doesn't labour or the Lib dems use the same words ? I dont mean policies, but principles. What are the principles of the Tory party ? What do they stand for ?
DC is about as inspiring as a wet blanket. He will not win because he is good, but because after 12 or 13 years, people will want to change.
As the weeks slip by and we keep being told what a good lad Dave is, there is this sort of surreal atmosphere almost like a fog around him! It's like those dreams when you try to run but don't get anywhere. Everyone keeps saying he's a grand chap, just wait and see! I'm waiting because I dearly do want the Conservatives to win next time, but I have serious reservations which are deepening by the minute. Something's missing and it's not just policies. It's really something to do with dynamism, thrust, fire, visible authority something down to earth, that's just not there and I think he knows it himself!
Charlotte Cordy "Let the Sunshine In" was from the Fifth Dimension. I've still got the LP.
I'm not a Tory, but having read the speech (reading gives you the content a good presentation might hide) I quite like this fella.
He was a big too much Tony for me in the past, but I think he may be on to something here.
Yes, it would be nice to have some policies, but the next election is years away - what would be the point of shooting himself in the foot now?
What Dave needs to do now, is to import some of that American attitude where kids are taught that to succeed is nothing to be ashamed of! - so much healthier than all that PC nonsense they are being taught at the moment.
Dr Doom
If you are as ignorent as you claim, may I recomend you get a book on the subject?
If you dont even know what a Conservative is, how can you so confidently opine?
Do you really expect David Cameron to tell you in every speach?
I might be going a bit senile but I do know what a SOCIALIST is, and would not bother to state any party political viewpoint at all, if I did not.
I hope Dave sticks to his guns on this tax cut issue. Whilst it only seems one policy, it's a policy which effects all the others as well as it determines what the level of public expenditure can be.
Commiting to a policy such as this 3 years before the election is pure folly for the following reasons.
1) We don't know what the economy will be 3 years down the line. Commiting to tax cuts when the economy is wrong would be a grave mistake.
2) We don't know how Brown, or AN Other will set their stall in terms of policies etc.
3) It restricts the other policies (see above), so you commit yourself to other polices which may not be as well thought out.
Whilst it may make some dyed-blue tories happy, tax cuts now will not win an election 3 years away. (Tax cuts three years away may, but who can say for sure). The tories have to remember, you can't do jack in opposition. Only in power will you get anything you want..
I noticed that on C4 News last night cameron again mentioned that our Corporation Tax is now among Europe's highest because all the others are coming down.
He also made a good point about Thatcher's rhetoric exceeding her acts (NHS money actually went up year on year) which opens the option that he actually intends to do the opposite.
Norman Tebbit once said roughly the same - that she never flinched from a speaking out when she could have turned away popular wrath.
If I were advising Cameron I would certainly suggest that he publicly use the Irish example of low taxes in preference to the Thatcher one. Not only are the Irish seen to be charming by many who do not find Thatcher so but their economic "miracle" was considerably greater than hers.
Siralf does me an injustice by promoting my ignorance, I find this most unfair.
The Tories are a tax cutting party.
I'm not wrong am I?
Osborne and Dave are promising nothing on this score because it's too soon.Correct?
The truth is that the Tories want their leaders to cut taxes because that's what good Tories do. Correct?
As I see it, Dave is fooling nobody with with-holding long term projections for a future Tory party.
Economy first! Stability First!Tax cuts some other time!
All good stuff. Been here, done that.
Compare this to a Labour party conference that gave a near standing ovation to Tony Blair's request for Nuclear Power stations.
10 years ago he would have been sent to a gulag.
The Tories have a lot to learn and their first steps towards voter forgiveness is that they stop spinning and stop lying to themselves, to each other and to the rest of the Country.
Nobody is being fooled by Dave's(flower power), William's(EPP) and George's(euro ignorance).
Doom.
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