Conference Special

:00:43. > :00:46.Morning folks. Welcome to this final Daily Politics conference

:00:47. > :00:52.special with the Tories in Birmingham. It's our last special

:00:52. > :00:57.of the autumn, the party conference season of 2012. And all eyes today

:00:57. > :01:02.on the Prime Minister, sink or swim. Do or decline. David Cameron will

:01:02. > :01:07.warn that Britain is in a new global race and needs to raise its

:01:07. > :01:10.game to survive. After the Prime Minister's birthday

:01:10. > :01:14.balti with Sam Cam last night Mr Cameron makes his speech to

:01:14. > :01:19.conference in around half an hour's time. We will bring it to you live

:01:19. > :01:22.here on BBC2. Party members are already filling

:01:22. > :01:28.up the conference hall, that's our live shot from Birmingham. They're

:01:28. > :01:33.getting ready to hear their leader. We will be talking to the Culture

:01:33. > :01:39.Secretary, Maria Miller, Business Minister Michael Fallon and former

:01:39. > :01:45.Tory Chancellor, Norman Lamont. And Adam will test the mood of the

:01:45. > :01:48.Conservative Party's foot soldiers. What do you want to hear today?

:01:48. > :01:51.the Conservatives, Tory values, and also the good work they've done.

:01:51. > :01:58.They've taken tough decisions for the long-term view for society and

:01:59. > :02:02.Britain. All that's coming up before 1.00.

:02:02. > :02:07.With us for the duration, former Conservative Chancellor Norman

:02:07. > :02:12.Lamont. Welcome back to our show. So, David Cameron will get to his

:02:12. > :02:16.feet around 11.30, maybe after this morning, he is going to finish the

:02:16. > :02:19.Tory conference. It's been sombre and downbeat, like the economy, he

:02:19. > :02:25.is struggling to revive in the last few minutes the Prime Minister's

:02:25. > :02:29.made his way from the conference hotel into the conference centre.

:02:29. > :02:34.He's expected to talk for around 50 minutes. Looks like he will be

:02:34. > :02:37.painting with a broad brush from the bits that have already been

:02:37. > :02:41.officially leaked to the media. Britain may not be in the future

:02:41. > :02:46.what it has been in the past, he will warn conference and the

:02:46. > :02:48.country, unless it's prepared to take difficult, and painful

:02:48. > :02:53.decisions. Among which he naturally includes the coalition's policy of

:02:53. > :02:57.cutting the deficit. So much, so predictable. But also a more

:02:57. > :03:03.personal touch when he talks about his late father, and his son, Ivan,

:03:03. > :03:07.who died over three years ago aged six after battling epilepsy and

:03:07. > :03:11.cerebral palsy. Back to policy. Speaking to the BBC this morning,

:03:11. > :03:14.the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, was also on about the UK

:03:14. > :03:17.facing a choice. The risk is we don't keep up with the world

:03:17. > :03:21.changing. The world's changed in a significant way over the last few

:03:22. > :03:26.years and people know that. It's more intensely competitive.

:03:26. > :03:29.Countries that have grown economies like China, India, Brazil, do

:03:29. > :03:33.present a more competitive challenge. So, are we going to do

:03:33. > :03:38.what we have been setting out at this conference and the last two

:03:38. > :03:42.years, revamping our education system, bringing down business

:03:42. > :03:45.taxes or go back to borrowing a load of money that we haven't got

:03:45. > :03:50.which was really the only recipe at last week's conference? That's the

:03:50. > :03:53.choice. Thafrs the foreign haebg. -- that

:03:53. > :03:55.was the Foreign Secretary. We are told he was one of the arc

:03:55. > :03:59.architects of this conference and the mood it should have. Back to

:03:59. > :04:02.the politics of decline? I think what this conference is about,

:04:02. > :04:07.about two things, as one of the ladies you interviewed said.

:04:07. > :04:12.Firstly, it's about reconnecting with the Conservative Party,

:04:12. > :04:16.emphasising that the Government holds conservative values. The

:04:16. > :04:19.reason is that inevitably, within a coalition, David Cameron has a

:04:19. > :04:27.difficult task of having to pay attention to the Liberal Democrats,

:04:27. > :04:33.as well. Unfortunate compromises have to be made. He has to face two

:04:33. > :04:36.ways at once and has to assure two audiences, the country that he is

:04:36. > :04:39.doing what is in the country's interest and the party that there

:04:39. > :04:44.are Conservative values at the heart of this Government and that

:04:44. > :04:48.he is a true Conservative. So the Conservative Party faithful need to

:04:48. > :04:53.be reassured that a Conservative Prime Minister is a Conservative?

:04:53. > :04:57.The Government has been making compromises, obviously, with the

:04:57. > :05:01.Liberal Democrats. They understand that, the party faithful aren't

:05:01. > :05:05.stupid. People do not always understand. They forget the

:05:05. > :05:11.difficulty that David Cameron faces day-to-day in running a Coalition,

:05:11. > :05:15.also sorts of compromises have to be made and the party need to be

:05:15. > :05:18.reassured that the party wants to win an outright majority at the

:05:18. > :05:23.next election, that we are on course to do that, that the economy

:05:23. > :05:27.will revive. He is not very popular with the back benches and the the

:05:27. > :05:33.party faithful, is he? I think this anxiety about, are the Liberal

:05:33. > :05:37.Democrats having too big a say, you know, does exist but people don't

:05:37. > :05:43.really see the pressure he is under in two directions. It's very

:05:43. > :05:49.difficult task to do, actually. the personal bit, why talk about

:05:49. > :05:54.his father, why talk about the sad loss of his son? He's been leader

:05:54. > :06:00.of the Conservative Party now for seven years. If he doesn't think we

:06:00. > :06:06.know him by now, we will never know him. Well, I suppose that is what

:06:06. > :06:10.people think the public expect and want to hear. Politics has to come

:06:10. > :06:15.personal, very touchy-feelly. you like that? I am not sure I

:06:15. > :06:18.would do it in that particular way but I don't have his particular

:06:18. > :06:23.background. I have noticed that all leaders of all - I don't know if

:06:23. > :06:27.you have been watching, I am sure you have, the US presidential

:06:27. > :06:33.election. It's quite extraordinary the extent... Is that a good thing,

:06:33. > :06:38.we want to bring that to British politics? We are not going quite as

:06:38. > :06:42.far as Mitt Romney's six-year-old son waving to the convention. I

:06:42. > :06:46.don't think is a good thing. It's good to have you aboard with us, we

:06:47. > :06:49.will talk more. Yes, David Cameron got a big task ahead, of course,

:06:49. > :06:54.let's get a sense and flavour of the mood at conference and talk to

:06:54. > :06:57.Kevin Maguire from The Mirror and Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail.

:06:57. > :07:00.Norman Lamont was talking there about the compromises made in

:07:00. > :07:04.Coalition from the Liberal Democrats for David Cameron, but

:07:04. > :07:09.what about his birthday yesterday having to sit through Boris's

:07:09. > :07:14.thunderous speech and having to prepare his own? Yes, Boris was

:07:14. > :07:18.unexpectedly loyal. Everyone was waiting for the rappier to be

:07:18. > :07:21.wielded and that didn't happen. Going back to what Lord Lamont was

:07:21. > :07:24.saying, there is a reason that David Cameron isn't universally

:07:24. > :07:28.popular with his parliamentary party. He doesn't have the powers

:07:28. > :07:31.of patronage. He can't give out jobs. He can't because necessary a

:07:31. > :07:34.Coalition. In the same way as a leader of the country, he can't

:07:34. > :07:37.spend money. He doesn't have that power of patronage. Politics is

:07:37. > :07:42.very different at the moment from what we have had in the last 15

:07:42. > :07:45.years when it was splurge time and when Prime Ministers could give out

:07:45. > :07:48.lots of jobs to their mates. It's very different now for Cameron. He

:07:48. > :07:53.doesn't have that power. That is why it's so important, that's why

:07:53. > :07:56.he has to fill in the time, the air time, by talking about his personal

:07:56. > :08:01.story and his beliefs. This is what happens when politicians can't

:08:01. > :08:04.spend money. I think that's great, as a right-winger, it's a relief

:08:04. > :08:08.they're not spending our money. That's what the Tories haven't done

:08:08. > :08:16.this week. They haven't been giving away lots to the electorate, good

:08:16. > :08:21.for them. As well as having to deal with his own party and obviously

:08:21. > :08:27.the Liberal Democrats, he's now answering Ed Miliband, Kevin

:08:27. > :08:32.Maguire, and trying to reclaim the centre ground. He found money for a

:08:32. > :08:35.council tax bauble, so there's money when they want it. You are

:08:35. > :08:38.quite right. Ed Miliband staked out the centre ground. The

:08:38. > :08:42.Conservatives say that's not true, he is actually on the left and that

:08:42. > :08:46.is true to some extent but David Cameron himself this week has moved

:08:46. > :08:55.to the right and he's done than with a harder message on welfare

:08:55. > :08:59.and unemployment rights, even shooting those huskies he used to

:08:59. > :09:02.hug. He is in Tory tribe here where they're not entirely confident in

:09:02. > :09:07.him and he has to reassert his authority, that's what he has to do

:09:07. > :09:11.and the reason he talks about his father is he knows it humanises him.

:09:11. > :09:14.When you are given a much tougher message and you are going to look

:09:14. > :09:18.like the nasty party, you talk about your family and Ed Miliband

:09:18. > :09:23.did it, Gordon Brown used to do it, Tony Blair went so far to have a

:09:23. > :09:26.baby in Downing Street to prove he was a family man. We might be

:09:26. > :09:31.cynical in the media but voters like it. There was a little bit of

:09:31. > :09:38.an opportunity for David Cameron to enjoy his birthday, he went out for

:09:38. > :09:48.a curry with Sam Cam and the birthday cake that I recognised.

:09:48. > :09:51.

:09:51. > :09:56.The photograph of all those loyal aides laughing hard. But can I come

:09:56. > :10:00.back to my rant earlier, there was a missed opportunity today, the

:10:00. > :10:03.Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, gave a speech, it's the most

:10:03. > :10:06.vaccous piece of work I have heard for a long time. She has a

:10:06. > :10:11.responsibility, a duty, to talk to us about the culture that she

:10:11. > :10:18.believes in and the possibilities of the wider cultural world.

:10:18. > :10:23.did she misthe opportunity? All she talked about... She's not very

:10:23. > :10:28.good! She talked about the Olympics and Union Jack, feeble. She should

:10:28. > :10:32.be talking about the brilliant possibilities of culture as a

:10:32. > :10:36.Conservative for culture to draw up - to give opportunities to the poor

:10:36. > :10:39.and she didn't do that. That's the problem that the Tories have got.

:10:39. > :10:43.They've no cultural soul. You will have a chance to watch her again,

:10:43. > :10:48.because we are interviewing her later in the programme. Good luck!

:10:48. > :10:57.So, something for to you look forward to. Kevin Maguire, what

:10:57. > :11:03.about the G-word - growth? Is that going to be talked about is there a

:11:03. > :11:07.sense the sunny uplands will come in the future? A lot will be, the

:11:07. > :11:13.tough decisions, blame Labour, he presents himself as a broom. We saw

:11:13. > :11:16.Boris Johnson was more of a Dyson sucking up the good news. He will

:11:16. > :11:20.present himself as I am the man that will take you through, there

:11:20. > :11:27.is light at the end of the the tunnel, we will be OK if you stick

:11:27. > :11:30.with me and take this terrible medicine. Growth will below, living

:11:30. > :11:34.standards aren't going to soar, but 12 months' time could be a

:11:34. > :11:37.different narrative for David Cameron. All right, thank you I

:11:37. > :11:44.think we are going to speak to you after the speech. So go and get

:11:44. > :11:49.your seats. Now, David Cameron may have been treated to a curry at a

:11:49. > :11:53.Birmingham balti house last night but we think he is probably miffed

:11:53. > :11:58.his wife didn't get him what he really wanted. He is desperate to

:11:58. > :12:02.get his hands on one of these. Cheers. A Daily Politics mug.

:12:02. > :12:06.all nick it, you know! I know. But as regular viewers of this

:12:06. > :12:11.programme will know you can't buy these mugs, no, you have to steal

:12:11. > :12:14.them! You have to win them in our competition. Mrs Cameron, it's not

:12:14. > :12:24.too late but you will have to work out when this happened, like

:12:24. > :12:29.

:12:29. > :12:39.# for the day I die # I am going to touch the sky

:12:39. > :12:52.

:12:52. > :12:59.# Strong enough to hold the weight of time

:12:59. > :13:09.# Love enough to leave some of us Yeah, Blair, what are you doing?

:13:09. > :13:23.

:13:23. > :13:33.# I don't feel like dance dancing What do you do with a problem like

:13:33. > :13:44.

:13:44. > :13:49.# It's Chico time. # To be in with a chance of winning,

:13:49. > :13:58.send your answer to our special quiz e-mail address. You can see

:13:58. > :14:01.the full terms and conditions on our website.

:14:01. > :14:06.So, David Cameron David Cameron has made his away across to the

:14:06. > :14:12.conference centre from the hotel. There he comes, this is a few

:14:12. > :14:17.minutes ago. Hand in hand with Sam Cam, as she's known to her friends,

:14:17. > :14:21.the the Prime Minister's wife. Suitably dressed in blue for the

:14:21. > :14:27.Conservative Party conference. The Prime Minister looking relaxed, or

:14:27. > :14:30.attempting to look relaxed. He's done this six times before, this is

:14:30. > :14:32.his 7th speech as leader of the Conservative Party and that takes

:14:33. > :14:38.him to the secure area of the conference. He is going to start

:14:39. > :14:44.speaking, we think, in around about 15 minutes' time. We can now talk

:14:44. > :14:51.to the Business Minister, he's been on this programme more than me, I

:14:51. > :14:55.think, Michael Fallon, live from Birmingham. Welcome, Mr Fallon. Now

:14:55. > :15:00.you are a Minister I think this is the first time we have talked to

:15:00. > :15:04.you, say something, Michael, so we know you are there. I am here.

:15:04. > :15:14.do you agree with Norman Lamont that Mr Cameron needs to reconnect

:15:14. > :15:17.He has been meeting the Tory faithful. The Tory faithful like to

:15:17. > :15:20.hear it straight. They will hear that from him in a few moments'

:15:20. > :15:25.time. This is a serious speech. We face some quite serious challenges

:15:25. > :15:29.and we can come through them. are in decline at the moment, is

:15:29. > :15:35.that correct? No. He is saying we face some very serious challenges,

:15:35. > :15:40.not least from the newly-emerging economies of the Far East. We have

:15:40. > :15:47.to take the tough decisions. That means no longer spending on

:15:47. > :15:52.unaffordable public sector pensions, or welfare systems, but only

:15:52. > :15:57.concentrating on the future. He is going to say, "We are in a global

:15:57. > :16:02.race today." That means an hour of reckoning for countries like us.

:16:02. > :16:06.Sink or swim. What are the tough decisions has he got to take to

:16:06. > :16:11.stop the decline? These countries that we are competing with don't

:16:11. > :16:15.have the great deficits that we inherited, they don't have welfare,

:16:15. > :16:18.unreformed welfare systems, they don't have huge public sector

:16:18. > :16:24.pension liabilities. We have started to take those decisions. We

:16:24. > :16:28.need to go on getting the benefit system under control. We need to go

:16:28. > :16:32.on taking the tough decisions and only spend public money on the

:16:32. > :16:36.future, investing in infrastructure, roads, railways, power stations. If

:16:37. > :16:41.we do that, and reforming our school system and so on, if we do

:16:41. > :16:46.that we can face up to these challenges and get through. He is

:16:46. > :16:52.going to say, "The Conservative Party is for everyone." It echoes

:16:52. > :16:56.the one nation theme that your party used to champion but Mr

:16:56. > :17:01.Miliband seems to have run-off with your clothes. Is it a mistake, or

:17:01. > :17:05.is it not a mistake to allow the opposition to dictate the terms of

:17:05. > :17:11.political trade for you? Well, you know, we have always been a one-

:17:11. > :17:15.nation party. That was coined by a Conservative, by Disraeli, 100

:17:15. > :17:20.years ago. We have always lived up to that. We have been a party of

:17:20. > :17:24.North and South, white, Black, Asian and so on. We have always

:17:24. > :17:28.been proud to be a National Party. I don't think Mr Miliband can claim

:17:28. > :17:32.that. He is not well represented in the South of England. He is still

:17:32. > :17:37.in the pocket of the trade unions. He is not leading a one-nation

:17:37. > :17:41.party. David Cameron is. Hold on. You have only got one seat in

:17:41. > :17:50.Scotland. You regularly poll 14% of the vote. You have a handful of

:17:50. > :17:56.seats in Wales. You have no seats in any major northern city. In what

:17:56. > :18:00.way are you a one-nation party? have more parliamentary seats in

:18:00. > :18:04.Wales. We are trying to come back in Scotland. Long-term, we have

:18:04. > :18:10.been in decline, so have Labour. Labour are on the way back now.

:18:10. > :18:14.Well, we have both been losing share to the Scottish National

:18:14. > :18:18.Party. We have always put ourselves over as a one-nation party.

:18:18. > :18:24.Miliband can't do that because his party is financed by the trade

:18:24. > :18:29.unions and his policy-making is dominated by the trade unions. He

:18:29. > :18:34.was elected by the trade unions. opposed to hedge funds and private

:18:34. > :18:38.equity like your own party? One man, one vote, every member had a vote.

:18:38. > :18:42.That wasn't true... I'm talking about the money? It was the trade

:18:42. > :18:45.union vote that decided it should be Ed Miliband and not David

:18:45. > :18:51.Miliband. We give every single member of our party one vote.

:18:51. > :18:55.Nobody can buy our party. Are you in favour of gay marriage? Well, we

:18:56. > :19:01.are consulting on gay marriage... I'm asking you. Well, fine. I don't

:19:01. > :19:05.want to see, speaking personally, I don't want to see ever the Churches

:19:05. > :19:09.forced to accommodate gay marriage ceremonies if they don't want to do

:19:09. > :19:16.so. If we change the law, we have to be sure they can't be compelled

:19:16. > :19:23.to do that in future. That is what they are most concerned about.

:19:23. > :19:28.you in favour of civil gay marriage? Well, I need to be very

:19:28. > :19:30.satisfied on that particular point, that they are not going to be

:19:30. > :19:40.forced to conduct a marriage ceremony, whether they are

:19:40. > :19:44.Catholics, or Church of England, or whatever, inside a church. At the

:19:44. > :19:49.Spectator Party Conference Party last night, Cabinet Ministers were

:19:49. > :19:53.talking about how they could get Andrew Mitchell to step down as

:19:53. > :19:58.Chief Whip, some even talking on the record like Iain Duncan Smith.

:19:58. > :20:01.Will he survive to the weekend? Look, I was at the party last night.

:20:01. > :20:05.I didn't hear anybody talking about Andrew Mitchell. He has apologised

:20:05. > :20:08.for what he said. The police officer concerned in that incident

:20:09. > :20:12.has accepted the apology. We should all move on. I really don't think

:20:12. > :20:15.that is the most important thing that you can find from this

:20:15. > :20:20.conference. Let me tell you what Iain Duncan Smith said. He said,

:20:20. > :20:24.talking of the possibility that maybe he should be sent to be High

:20:24. > :20:29.Commissioner of Rwanda, he said, "Yeah, good idea, there are no

:20:29. > :20:34.gates in Rwanda!" That is on the record. I ask again, will Mr

:20:34. > :20:38.Mitchell survive the week? Look, I'm not sure that was on the record.

:20:38. > :20:43.I think you are re-telling tittle- tattle from drinks parties at a

:20:43. > :20:46.Conference. This Conference has been debating some serious issues.

:20:46. > :20:50.What Andrew Mitchell may or may not have said three weeks' ago hasn't

:20:50. > :20:54.been the big topic of conversation here. He has apologised. The police

:20:54. > :20:58.officer has accepted the apology. We should move on. His job is

:20:58. > :21:02.secure? Look, the Prime Minister has said that it is over now. We

:21:02. > :21:06.should move on. The apology has been accepted. He shouldn't have

:21:06. > :21:11.lost his temper like he did. But the apology has been accepted now.

:21:11. > :21:18.I don't think there is much more to it than that. OK. I notice you

:21:18. > :21:23.didn't say his job was secure. We will leave it there. Enjoy Prime

:21:23. > :21:27.Minister's Speech. God forbid we should report tittle-

:21:27. > :21:32.tattle on drinks parties! They are online, sometimes the only

:21:32. > :21:37.way you can find out is by what he calls "tittle-tattle".

:21:37. > :21:41.Now, it's not been a terrific year for the Conservatives one way and

:21:41. > :21:46.another. With U-turns over the Budget, fallout from the reshuffle

:21:46. > :21:50.and that embarrassing story about plebs. Of course, we here have

:21:51. > :21:55.covered it all in glorious technicolor. You can always rely on

:21:55. > :22:05.us. To the review of the past 12 months. We have hired our own

:22:05. > :22:20.

:22:20. > :22:27.expert critic to gave us his If the last 12 months was turned

:22:27. > :22:37.into a film, what would we call it? The Hills Are Alive With The Sound

:22:37. > :22:46.

:22:46. > :22:52.of Europe? Or Carry On Up The The year started so well for David

:22:52. > :22:56.Cameron when he stood up to Europe and vetoed the fiscal treaty. As

:22:56. > :23:00.the year wore on, there was public frustration at the lack of progress

:23:00. > :23:05.on the economy. There was also a worry that the coalition seemed to

:23:05. > :23:09.be squabbling on everything, from House of Lords reform, to wealth

:23:09. > :23:11.taxes. There were the dizzying number of U-turns which raised

:23:11. > :23:18.questions about the Government's competence. And then, of course,

:23:18. > :23:23.there was the big event, the Budget, which reinforced the sense that the

:23:23. > :23:27.Conservative Party was a party of the rich. Not only are Cameron and

:23:27. > :23:32.Osborne two posh boys who don't know the price of milk, they are

:23:32. > :23:36.two arrogant posh boys who show no remorse, no contrition and no

:23:36. > :23:41.passion to want to understand the lives of others. That is their real

:23:41. > :23:43.crime. The real hammer blow for David Cameron was Nick Clegg's

:23:43. > :23:48.decision to withdraw support for changes to the constituency

:23:48. > :23:52.boundaries. After failing to get his treasured goal of Lords reform,

:23:52. > :23:56.the Deputy PM torpedoed a plan that would have given the Tories 20

:23:56. > :24:00.extra seats at the next election. Cameron accepted Clegg's act

:24:00. > :24:04.because he knows Clegg is probably only Liberal Democrat Leader who

:24:04. > :24:08.can keep the coalition on track. David Cameron's great fear is that

:24:08. > :24:15.the Lib Dems will conclude that only Vince Cable can restore their

:24:15. > :24:20.party's fortunes and Cable's heart is very much on the left. Up until

:24:20. > :24:27.now, David Cameron's leadership has been secure. There hasn't been an

:24:27. > :24:30.alternative. Some people are beginning to wonder whether the

:24:30. > :24:38.Olympotastic Mayor of London might be that alternative. Boris has won

:24:38. > :24:43.in a Labour-leaning city twice. Once in the middle of a recession.

:24:43. > :24:52.If David Cameron can't improve things, and if Boris can get into

:24:52. > :24:56.Parliament, then suddenly, just perhaps, all bets are off. You did

:24:56. > :25:01.win more medals than France! Yes. And more medals than Germany and

:25:01. > :25:06.Australia! More medals, ladies and gentlemen, more medals per head,

:25:06. > :25:10.more medals than any country on Earth. Above all, you brought home

:25:10. > :25:15.the truth about us and about this country. When we put our minds to

:25:15. > :25:19.it, there is no limit to what Britain can achieve. David

:25:19. > :25:24.Cameron's now absolutely determined for his Government to be about much

:25:24. > :25:28.more than cuts. In the reshuffle, he put Ministers in all the key

:25:28. > :25:31.economic departments, absolutely focused on delivery, delivery,

:25:31. > :25:35.delivery. He still needs a plan that is bolder. He needs to have a

:25:36. > :25:40.plan that shows that he is rising above the squabbles of the

:25:40. > :25:50.coalition. And he needs an agenda that looks equal to the big

:25:50. > :25:53.

:25:53. > :25:58.challenges of our times. The last time the Conservatives won

:25:58. > :26:02.a general election was in 1992. Then, John Major didn't just focus

:26:02. > :26:07.on economic prosperity, but sharing that prosperity, too. He convinced

:26:07. > :26:13.the British people that we wouldn't just benefit the already-haves, but

:26:13. > :26:18.that everyone would benefit - blue collar workers included. The other

:26:18. > :26:23.similarity is Labour was led by someone who didn't look prime

:26:23. > :26:30.ministerial. In more ways than one, 1992 should be David Cameron's

:26:30. > :26:35.model. Tim Montgomerie.

:26:35. > :26:39.Norman Lamont, how worrying is it when former Welsh Secretary told a

:26:39. > :26:44.fringe meeting this week that the Conservative Party's losing its

:26:45. > :26:49.reputation for competence? There have been, obviously with the

:26:49. > :26:52.Budget and with the railway fiasco, there have been a number of

:26:52. > :26:59.unfortunate things. The most important thing is the economy, the

:26:59. > :27:03.economy, the economy. And the budget deficit reduction programme.

:27:03. > :27:08.I know people get bored out of hearing this said again and again.

:27:08. > :27:12.The Government don't have the luxury of forgetting about it. It

:27:12. > :27:16.is the central problem facing the country, facing the Government.

:27:16. > :27:21.Ordinary people may forget about it, but the Government can never forget

:27:21. > :27:25.about it. There won't be real growth, increasing prosperity

:27:25. > :27:28.unless that programme continues. Therefore, I think boring though

:27:28. > :27:34.sometimes journalists may consider it, it is very important for the

:27:34. > :27:39.Government to repeat the message about the huge crisis and deficit,

:27:39. > :27:43.the huge debts that they were left. All right. Thank you.

:27:43. > :27:50.Only a few minutes to go before the Prime Minister gets on his feet.

:27:50. > :27:55.Can we dip into the Hall? You can see they are showing a video. It is

:27:55. > :28:00.BBC policy - that is not a video - otherwise it is slow-moving! They

:28:00. > :28:10.do show videos in the run-up. It is the BBC policy not to show videos

:28:10. > :28:14.

:28:14. > :28:24.of any of the party conferences. The hall will be full. this is what

:28:24. > :28:29.they live for, the delegates. We get excited by it, too. Nick

:28:29. > :28:33.Robinson is there for us. Welcome. Great to talk to you. We have a

:28:33. > :28:36.rough idea that the country is in decline unless we take the tough

:28:36. > :28:41.decisions and we are taking the tough decisions, that is what he is

:28:41. > :28:46.going to say, isn't it? Well, that is part one of it. Part two is the

:28:46. > :28:50.more upbeat bit. There were a deliberate attempt to say, "You may

:28:50. > :28:55.not like the Conservatives, but they are gritty, they are realistic,

:28:55. > :28:58.they are being honest with you about what the problems facing the

:28:58. > :29:02.country is." That is why you got the sort of speech you got from the

:29:02. > :29:05.Chancellor. That is why you got the briefings that made the headlines

:29:05. > :29:09.in this morning's newspapers. I think what you will find is that

:29:09. > :29:13.the Prime Minister tries to speak more to the slogan at this

:29:13. > :29:16.Conference - Britain can deliver. Having tried to claim the credit

:29:16. > :29:21.for being open about the scale of the problems the country faces, he

:29:21. > :29:26.then needs to add a gloss of optimism, if you like, that Britain

:29:26. > :29:30.is capable of delivering and, to use a phrase that I am told he will

:29:30. > :29:34.use again and again, aspiration nation - trying to identify himself

:29:34. > :29:38.with the aspiration of ordinary hard-working people and to say, if

:29:38. > :29:41.they can be liberated, the country will revive, too. To what extent

:29:41. > :29:44.does the Prime Minister have to reconnect with his own supporters,

:29:44. > :29:53.many of whom, as you will have discovered there, are not happy

:29:53. > :29:58.with either him or the way the Government is going? Well, quite a

:29:58. > :30:01.lot of that has already taken place, Andrew. Why did we move from hug a

:30:01. > :30:06.hoodie to bash a burglar, despite the fact there have been three

:30:06. > :30:09.legal changes already to do what the one announced yesterday was

:30:09. > :30:14.about, despite the fact there are only a handful of cases involved?

:30:14. > :30:19.Why? It pleases the Tory faithful and it pleases the Tory press and

:30:19. > :30:22.generates good headlines. Why did the Prime Minister stop warning his

:30:22. > :30:27.party about obsessing about Europe and talk rather a lot about the

:30:27. > :30:30.fact that he had a big speech coming up and that he was

:30:30. > :30:34.increasingly minded, not in this Parliament, but in the future, to

:30:34. > :30:39.talk about Europe and to hold a referendum on Britain's future

:30:39. > :30:43.relationship with the EU? Again and again, we have seen this. Welfare.

:30:43. > :30:48.Why did he not specify the tax rises on the rich and yet specify

:30:48. > :30:52.the cuts that he was looking for in welfare and identify himself with

:30:52. > :30:56.the people who are angered by going off to work early in the morning

:30:56. > :30:59.and seeing the curtains closed in the home of someone who is

:30:59. > :31:03.unemployed and not working? Again, because he is trying to reconnect

:31:03. > :31:07.with the party faithful. Most of that work he will stand up hoping

:31:07. > :31:10.it's been done and will try and present himself to his party as the

:31:10. > :31:20.guy who looks and sounds like a Prime Minister, doing the right

:31:20. > :31:25.

:31:25. > :31:30.For many of the early years of Mr Cameron they didn't use that

:31:30. > :31:33.language at all, so why have they gone back to it? Because they've

:31:33. > :31:37.got a problem. I think it's absolutely right to highlight that

:31:37. > :31:42.and notice that. It is precisely because Labour have moved on to

:31:42. > :31:46.this turf of one nation and talked about the children who don't get to

:31:46. > :31:49.go to university, the children who do want training and an

:31:49. > :31:54.apprenticeship, the children who worry about get ago job and getting

:31:54. > :31:58.their first home. It's precisely because Labour have identified that

:31:58. > :32:04.group and because David Cameron, partly because of Andrew Mitchell,

:32:04. > :32:08.allegedly referring to plebs, partly because of that 50p tax cut,

:32:08. > :32:13.partly because of the demeanour of the people at the top of the

:32:13. > :32:16.Conservative Party, has become associated once again as Tim was

:32:16. > :32:21.saying, with being the party of the rich, it's for that reason that

:32:21. > :32:25.David Cameron feels the need to put up front and centre his

:32:25. > :32:30.identification with the people he will call the aspirers, the

:32:30. > :32:34.strivers. You mentioned Andrew Mitchell, have you heard any

:32:34. > :32:38.rumblings among senior Conservatives about his future as

:32:38. > :32:42.Chief Whip? Absolutely, I have spoken to senior cabinet Ministers

:32:42. > :32:44.who say if it had been anybody else they would have been sacked

:32:44. > :32:48.straightaway. They believe it was a mistake of the Prime Minister not

:32:48. > :32:52.to sack Andrew Mitchell. They think Mr Mitchell's position is not

:32:52. > :32:56.sustainable in the long-term and they believe that a way will be

:32:56. > :33:01.found to get him out of his job, but long after the press will be

:33:01. > :33:05.able to claim they've got a scalp. There is a widespread view at this

:33:05. > :33:09.conference that Andrew Mitchell is desperately damaged as Chief Whip,

:33:09. > :33:15.as enforcer of discipline, but there is no expectation that will

:33:15. > :33:19.lead to that job in Rwanda that Iain Duncan Smith was apparently

:33:20. > :33:25.joking about at a party last night. Thank you. I hope Michael Fallon

:33:25. > :33:28.was listening to you there. You mentioned, he has to send them away

:33:28. > :33:33.with a spring in their step, more upbeat parts of the speech, what's

:33:34. > :33:37.the upbeat bit? Well, I think it's trying to convince the country that

:33:37. > :33:42.the Olympic spirit that after all Boris Johnson talked about in the

:33:42. > :33:45.last few moments Lord Coe has been talking about on the stage of this

:33:45. > :33:49.conference, remember he was originally an aide to William Hague,

:33:49. > :33:52.we always remember the running and we remember the Olympics. But many

:33:52. > :33:56.people forget that he was a Conservative MP and effectively

:33:56. > :34:00.Chief of Staff for William Hague. He will try and tap into that sort

:34:00. > :34:03.of can-do spirit that Boris Johnson talked about, trying to convince

:34:03. > :34:07.people the country has proved it's capable of getting out of the mess

:34:07. > :34:17.it's in. The other interesting thing he will do is try to extend

:34:17. > :34:17.

:34:17. > :34:20.the narrative of this Government away purely from deficit reduction.

:34:20. > :34:22.He will try and link other reforms, welfare reforms, reforms to the

:34:22. > :34:25.schools, as all part of, if you like, getting Britain fit for what

:34:26. > :34:29.he calls the global race. In effect, that whole message of the Olympics,

:34:29. > :34:34.which is believing that the country is capable of it, taking the

:34:34. > :34:37.measures necessary to get the country like an athlete, fit for

:34:37. > :34:40.the competition, acknowledging the scale of the task, and then a note

:34:40. > :34:44.of optimism at the end, that at least is the aim. Whether he will

:34:44. > :34:50.pull it off is a different thing, but that's what I am told is the

:34:50. > :34:55.aim. This is a speech that will be much Morecamber Ron than we have --

:34:55. > :34:58.more Cameron than we have seen before. Steve Hilton, a guy much

:34:58. > :35:02.more edgy than David Cameron, always urging him to go a little

:35:02. > :35:06.bit further, always wanting him to challenge the party, he's emigrated

:35:06. > :35:10.and that's producing a change in David Cameron's rhetoric. Thank you

:35:10. > :35:14.for that. Let's go straight to Birmingham and

:35:14. > :35:24.listen to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, address the Conservative

:35:24. > :35:28.

:35:28. > :35:34.In May 2010, this party stood on the threshold of power for the

:35:34. > :35:40.first time in more than a decade. We knew then that it was not just

:35:40. > :35:45.the ordinary duties of office that we were assuming. We were entering

:35:45. > :35:51.into Government at a grave moment in the modern history of Britain.

:35:51. > :35:56.At a time when people felt uncertainty, even fear. Here was

:35:57. > :36:03.the challenge - to make an insolvent nation solvent again. To

:36:03. > :36:07.set our country back on the path to prosperity that all can share in,

:36:07. > :36:14.to bring home our troops from danger while keeping our citizens

:36:15. > :36:21.safe from terror, to mend a broken society. Two and a half years later,

:36:22. > :36:31.of course I can't tell you that all is well, but I can say this:

:36:32. > :36:34.

:36:34. > :36:38.Britain is on the right track. APPLAUSE As Prime Minister, it has

:36:38. > :36:43.fallen to me to say some hard things and to help our country face

:36:43. > :36:48.some hard truths. All of my adult life, whatever the difficulties,

:36:48. > :36:53.the British people have at least been confident about one thing, we

:36:53. > :36:57.have thought we can pay our way. That we can earn our living as a

:36:57. > :37:03.major industrial country and we will always remain one. It has

:37:03. > :37:07.fallen to us to say that we cannot assume that any longer. Unless we

:37:07. > :37:12.act, unless we take difficult, painful decisions, unless we show

:37:12. > :37:18.determination and imagination, Britain may not be in the future

:37:19. > :37:24.what it has been in the past. Because the truth is this, we are

:37:24. > :37:31.in a global race today. And that means an hour of reckoning for

:37:31. > :37:36.countries like ours, sink or swim, do or decline. To take office, to

:37:36. > :37:44.become the Government at such a moment is a duty and an honour. And

:37:44. > :37:48.we will rise to the challenge. Today, I want to set out a serious

:37:48. > :37:53.argument to this country about how we do that. About how we compete

:37:53. > :38:00.and thrive in this world. How can we make sure that in this century,

:38:00. > :38:04.like the ones before, Britain is on the rise? Nothing matters more.

:38:04. > :38:13.Every battle we fight, every plan we make, every decision we take is

:38:13. > :38:19.to achieve that end. Britain on the rise. Now the challenge before us

:38:19. > :38:26.is daunting, I have confidence in our country. Why? Because Britain

:38:26. > :38:30.can deliver. We can do big things. We saw it this summer. The Jubilee,

:38:30. > :38:37.the Olympics, the Paralympics, the best country in the world and let

:38:37. > :38:47.us say it, with our Queen, the finest Head of State on earth.

:38:47. > :38:53.

:38:53. > :38:58.APPLAUSE I was recently trying to think of

:38:58. > :39:02.my favourite moment of that extraordinary summer. Was it

:39:02. > :39:06.telling President Hollande that no, we hadn't cheated at the cycling,

:39:06. > :39:14.our wheels weren't rounder than anyone else, we just peddled faster

:39:14. > :39:19.than the French?! No. For me it was seeing that young woman who swam

:39:19. > :39:22.her heart out for years, nine training sessions a week, two hours

:39:22. > :39:32.at a time, my best moment was putting that gold medal around the

:39:32. > :39:39.

:39:39. > :39:43.neck of Ellie Simmonds. APPLAUSE And you know something, I am so

:39:43. > :39:49.grateful for what those Paralympians did. When I used to

:39:49. > :39:53.push my son Ivan around in his wheelchair, I used to think that

:39:53. > :39:56.too many people saw the wheelchair and not the boy. I think today more

:39:56. > :40:06.people would see the boy and not the wheelchair and that's because

:40:06. > :40:15.

:40:15. > :40:19.of what happened in Britain this summer. APPLAUSE

:40:19. > :40:24.And the Olympics showed us something else, something important.

:40:24. > :40:34.Whether our athletes were Scottish, Welsh, English, or from Northern

:40:34. > :40:38.

:40:38. > :40:43.Ireland, they draped themselves in one flag. APPLAUSE Now there was,

:40:43. > :40:46.of course, one person who didn't like that. He is called Alex

:40:46. > :40:51.Salmond. I am going to go and see him on Monday to sort out that

:40:51. > :40:56.referendum on independence by the end of 2014. Because there are many

:40:56. > :41:00.things I want this Coalition Government to do, but what could be

:41:00. > :41:03.more important than saving our United Kingdom? So let's say it, we

:41:03. > :41:13.are better together, we will rise together and let us fight that

:41:13. > :41:18.

:41:18. > :41:22.referendum with everything we've got. APPLAUSE

:41:22. > :41:28.There are so many people to thank for this summer, those that won the

:41:28. > :41:33.bid, those that built the stadia, those that ran the Games, that

:41:33. > :41:39.national hero, that Conservative hero you heard from, Seb Coe. What

:41:39. > :41:45.a giant he was this summer. APPLAUSE

:41:45. > :41:51.But, of course, there is also the man who put the smile on all our

:41:51. > :42:01.faces, the zinger on the zip-wire, the Conservative Mayor of London,

:42:01. > :42:02.

:42:02. > :42:05.our own Boris Johnson. APPLAUSE And those Games-Makers, those

:42:05. > :42:09.extraordinary Games-Makers. I have spent three years trying to explain

:42:09. > :42:19.the Big Society. They did it beautifully in just three weeks and

:42:19. > :42:22.I want to thank them for that, as well. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE

:42:22. > :42:27.Now, there is another group of people who stepped into the breach

:42:27. > :42:33.this summer and we in this party, we never forget them. Our Armed

:42:33. > :42:39.Forces have been on the ground in Afghanistan now for over ten years.

:42:39. > :42:42.433 men and women have paid the ultimate price and made the

:42:42. > :42:48.ultimate sacrifice. Just last weekend, there was a memorial

:42:48. > :42:54.service for one of the fallen and the eulogy said this: All that they

:42:54. > :43:01.had they gave, all that they might have had, all that they had ever

:43:01. > :43:06.been, all that they might ever have become. Beautiful words. Painful

:43:06. > :43:12.words. Words we should never forget when we send our young men and

:43:12. > :43:15.women into harm's way to work on our behalf. And for all those who

:43:15. > :43:21.serve, and for their families, I repeat the commitment I made when

:43:21. > :43:24.this Government came to office. By the end of 2014, all UK combat

:43:24. > :43:29.operations in Afghanistan will have come to an end. Nearly all our

:43:29. > :43:34.troops will be home. Their country proud, their duty done. And let

:43:34. > :43:44.everyone in this hall stand and show how profoundly grateful we are

:43:44. > :43:44.

:43:44. > :44:41.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 56 seconds

:44:41. > :44:42.for everything they've done. To meet the challenges that our

:44:42. > :44:47.country faces, we must have confidence in ourselves. Confidence

:44:47. > :44:52.as a party. We've been in office two and a half years now, and we've

:44:52. > :44:55.done some big, life-changing things. Just ask Clive Stone. I met him

:44:56. > :45:00.years ago when we were in opposition. He had cancer and he

:45:00. > :45:04.said to me, the drug I need, it's out there but they won't give it to

:45:04. > :45:10.me because it's too expensive. Please, if you get in, do something

:45:10. > :45:15.about it. And we have. A new cancer drug fund that's got the latest

:45:15. > :45:25.drugs to more than 21,000 people and counting and there is a reason.

:45:25. > :45:28.

:45:28. > :45:30.There is sa reason we could do that. It's because we made a big decision

:45:30. > :45:32.to protect the NHS from spending cuts. No other party made that

:45:32. > :45:37.commitment. Not Labour. Not the Liberal Democrats. Just us, the

:45:37. > :45:42.Conservatives. To all those people who said we'd bring the NHS down, I

:45:42. > :45:47.would say this: You've got a point. I will tell you what's down,

:45:47. > :45:51.waiting lists down, mixed wards down, the number of managers down,

:45:51. > :45:54.bureaucratic targets down, hospital infections down. What's up? The

:45:55. > :45:58.number of doctors, the number of dentists, midwives, the number of

:45:58. > :46:07.operations carried out in our NHS. Let no one be in any doubt, this is

:46:07. > :46:17.the party of the NHS and that is the way it's going to stay.

:46:17. > :46:23.

:46:23. > :46:29.We made another big decision too in these difficult times. That was to

:46:29. > :46:34.go on saving lives abroad. I know some are sceptical about our aid

:46:34. > :46:39.budget. But picture the scene. You are in a health centre in Kinshasa.

:46:39. > :46:43.You see the child with a needle in her arm being injected with a

:46:44. > :46:49.yellow fever vaccine. That is the difference between living and dying.

:46:49. > :46:55.How can anyone tell me that's a waste of money? Since we have

:46:55. > :47:02.gathered here in Birmingham on Sunday, British aid money has

:47:02. > :47:06.vaccinated 130,000 children around the world. 130,000 children. YOU,

:47:06. > :47:16.the Conservative Party, helped to do that and you should be proud of

:47:16. > :47:19.

:47:19. > :47:24.what you have done. Here's something else this party's

:47:24. > :47:29.done in Government. Last December I was at a European Council in

:47:29. > :47:34.Brussels. It was 3.00am, there was a treaty on the table that was not

:47:34. > :47:37.in Britain's interests. And there were 25 people around that table

:47:37. > :47:43.telling me to sign it. But I did something that no other British

:47:43. > :47:53.leader has ever done before. I said no, Britain comes first, and I

:47:53. > :47:57.

:47:57. > :48:01.APPLAUSE So my friends, we are doing big

:48:01. > :48:07.Conservative things. For years people said, "You'll never reform

:48:07. > :48:10.public sector pensions, the trade unions won't stand for it." We have

:48:11. > :48:14.done it. For years people said, "Benefits are out of control,

:48:14. > :48:18.there's nothing you can do about it." Because of our welfare cap, no

:48:18. > :48:28.family will be getting more in benefits than the average family

:48:28. > :48:30.

:48:30. > :48:34.earns. For years people said... APPLAUSE For years people asked,

:48:34. > :48:40."Why can't we get rid of those radical preachers who spout hatred

:48:40. > :48:44.about our country, living off the taxpayers?" Theresa May has done it.

:48:44. > :48:54.She's got Abu Hamza on that plane and out of our country to face

:48:54. > :48:59.

:48:59. > :49:05.justice. APPLAUSE So be proud of what we've done

:49:05. > :49:08.already. Two million of the lowest paid workers being taken out of

:49:08. > :49:12.income tax altogether. Over 18 million households helped with a

:49:12. > :49:16.freeze in their council tax - and we're freezing it all over again

:49:16. > :49:21.next year, too. These are big Conservative things, delivered by

:49:21. > :49:29.this Government, made possible by this party. We can deliver. We can

:49:29. > :49:34.do big things. The Olympics reminded us how great it feels to

:49:34. > :49:39.be successful. But we must not let that give us a warm glow or a false

:49:39. > :49:43.sense of security. All over the world, countries are on the rise.

:49:43. > :49:48.Yes, we've been hearing about India and China for years. But it's hard

:49:48. > :49:56.to believe what is happening in Brazil, in Indonesia, in Nigeria,

:49:56. > :50:00.too. Meanwhile, the old powers are on the side. What do the countries

:50:00. > :50:05.on the rise have in common? They are lean, fit, obsessed with

:50:05. > :50:09.enterprise, spending money on the future - on education, incredible

:50:09. > :50:16.infrastructure and technology. And what do the countries on the slide

:50:16. > :50:20.have in common? They're fat, sclerotic, overregulated, spending

:50:20. > :50:24.money on unaffordable welfare systems, huge pension bills,

:50:24. > :50:27.unreformed public services. I sit in those endless meetings in

:50:27. > :50:31.Brussels where we talk forever about Greece. On the other side of

:50:31. > :50:36.the world, China is growing so fast they are creating another economy

:50:36. > :50:40.the size of Greece every three months. I'm not going to stand here

:50:40. > :50:46.as Prime Minister and allow this country to join the slide. My job -

:50:46. > :50:51.our job - is to make sure that in this 21st Century, as in the

:50:51. > :50:59.centuries that came before, our country, Britain, is on the rise.

:50:59. > :51:02.And here, here we know how that is done. It is the collective result

:51:02. > :51:08.of individual effort and aspiration. The ideas you have, the businesses

:51:08. > :51:13.you start, the hours you put in. Aspiration is the engine of

:51:13. > :51:17.progress. Countries rise when they allow their people to rise. In this

:51:17. > :51:22.world, where brains matter more, where technologies shape our lives,

:51:22. > :51:26.where no-one is owed a living, the most powerful resource we have is

:51:26. > :51:30.our people. Not just the scientists, the entrepreneurs, the engineers,

:51:30. > :51:34.not just the teachers, the parents, the nurses, but all our people,

:51:34. > :51:38.including the poorest, those who have never had a chance, never had

:51:38. > :51:43.a job, never had hope. That's why the mission for this Government is

:51:43. > :51:51.to build an aspiration nation. To unleash and unlock the promise in

:51:51. > :51:56.all our people. And for us, for us Conservatives, this is not just an

:51:56. > :52:01.economic mission - it is a moral one. It's not just about growth and

:52:01. > :52:06.GDP. It is what has always made our hearts beat faster - aspiration,

:52:06. > :52:09.people rising from the bottom to the top. Line one, rule one of

:52:09. > :52:19.being a Conservative is that it's not where you come from that counts,

:52:19. > :52:25.

:52:25. > :52:29.it is where you're going. We have been led... APPLAUSE

:52:30. > :52:34.We've been led by the daughter of a grocer, the son of a music hall

:52:34. > :52:37.performer, by a Jew when Jews were persecuted, by a woman when women

:52:37. > :52:43.were side-lined. We don't look at the label on the tin, we look at

:52:43. > :52:47.what's in it. Let me put that another way. We don't preach about

:52:47. > :52:57.one nation but practise class war. We just get behind people who want

:52:57. > :53:10.

:53:10. > :53:15.to get on in life. APPLAUSE That's right. The doers, the risk-

:53:15. > :53:18.takers. The young people who dream of their first paycheck, their

:53:18. > :53:23.first car. Those people who are ready and willing to work hard to

:53:23. > :53:27.get those things. While the intellectuals of other parties

:53:27. > :53:33.sneer at people who want to get on in life, we here salute you. They

:53:33. > :53:41.call us the party of the better-off. No. We are the party of the want to

:53:41. > :53:48.be better-off, those who strive to make a better life for themselves

:53:48. > :53:54.and we should never ever be ashamed of saying so. APPLAUSE This party,

:53:54. > :53:58.our party, it has a great heart. But we don't like wearing it on our

:53:58. > :54:02.sleeve. Conservatives tend to think, "Let's just get on with the job and

:54:02. > :54:08.help people and not bang on about it. It is not our style." There is

:54:08. > :54:14.a problem with that. It leaves a space for others to twist our ideas

:54:14. > :54:19.and distort who we are: The cartoon Conservatives who don't care. My

:54:19. > :54:23.mission from the day I became leader of this party was to change

:54:23. > :54:27.that. Yes, to show that the Conservative Party is for everyone,

:54:27. > :54:31.north or south, black or white, straight or gay. But above all, it

:54:31. > :54:37.was to show that Conservative methods are not just the way we

:54:37. > :54:40.grow a strong economy, but the way we build a "big society". That

:54:40. > :54:45.Conservative methods are not just good for the strong and the

:54:45. > :54:49.successful, but they are the best way to help the poor, the weak and

:54:49. > :54:53.the vulnerable. It is not enough for us to know our ideas are right.

:54:53. > :54:59.We have to explain why they are compassionate, too. Here is what we

:54:59. > :55:05.are up against. We say we've got to get the private sector bigger and

:55:05. > :55:09.the public sector smaller. Our opponents call it "Tory cuts,

:55:09. > :55:19.slashing the state." No, it is the best way to create the sustainable

:55:19. > :55:20.

:55:20. > :55:24.jobs people need. APPLAUSE We say help people become

:55:24. > :55:27.independent from welfare. Our opponents call it, "Cruel Tories

:55:28. > :55:32.leaving people to fend for themselves." No, there is only one

:55:32. > :55:36.real route out of poverty and that is work. We say of course you have

:55:36. > :55:41.to insist on a disciplined, rigorous education for your

:55:41. > :55:45.children. Our opponents say, "Elitist Tories, old-fashioned and

:55:45. > :55:51.out of touch." No, a decent education is the only way to give

:55:51. > :56:01.all our children the chance they need to start in this world.

:56:01. > :56:04.

:56:04. > :56:07.APPLAUSE The reason we want to reform

:56:07. > :56:11.schools, to cut welfare dependency, to reduce Government spending is

:56:11. > :56:15.not because we are the same old Tories who want to help the rich,

:56:15. > :56:20.it is because we are the Tories whose ideas help everyone - the

:56:20. > :56:29.poorest the most. A strong private sector. Welfare that works. Schools

:56:29. > :56:33.that teach. These three things are essential to helping our people to

:56:33. > :56:40.rise. They are essential to our success in this world. Labour will

:56:40. > :56:42.fight each and everyone of them every step of the way. These three

:56:42. > :56:46.things are not just the battleground for Britain's future,

:56:46. > :56:52.they are also the battle lines for the next election and it is a fight

:56:52. > :57:02.we've got to win for our party, for our country, but above all for our

:57:02. > :57:07.

:57:07. > :57:11.nation's future. APPLAUSE So to help our people rise, the number

:57:11. > :57:16.one, we need an economy that creates good jobs. We need

:57:16. > :57:22.businesses of every size, in every type of industry, in every part of

:57:22. > :57:28.the country - investing and taking people on. There are some basic

:57:28. > :57:31.things they need in order to do that. They need low interest rates.

:57:31. > :57:36.They need confidence that it is worth investing because the

:57:36. > :57:41.customers will be there, whether at home or abroad. Getting the deficit

:57:41. > :57:45.down is essential for both those things. That is why our deficit

:57:45. > :57:50.reduction plan is not an alternative to a growth plan, it is

:57:50. > :57:55.the very foundation of our growth plan. It is the only way we'll get

:57:55. > :58:00.Britain on the rise. Now I know that you are asking whether our

:58:00. > :58:06.plan is working. And here's the truth: The damage was worse than we

:58:06. > :58:10.thought, and it's taking longer than we hoped. The world economy -

:58:10. > :58:16.especially in the eurozone - has been much weaker than expected in

:58:16. > :58:22.the past two years. When some of o your big trading partners, -- some

:58:22. > :58:26.of your big trading partners like Ireland, Spain, Italy are suffering,

:58:26. > :58:31.they buy less from us. That hurts our growth and it makes it harder

:58:31. > :58:35.to pay off our debts. Here is the crucial thing you need to know. Yes,

:58:35. > :58:39.it is worse than we thought. Yes, it is taking longer. But we are

:58:39. > :58:43.making progress. Thanks to the grit and resolve of George Osborne, we

:58:43. > :58:49.have a cut a quarter off the deficit in the past two years - 25%.

:58:49. > :58:53.That has helped keep our interest rates at record low levels. Keeping

:58:53. > :58:57.mortgages low. Leaving more money in your pockets. Giving businesses

:58:57. > :59:03.more confidence to invest. Creating more jobs. And if you don't believe

:59:03. > :59:07.me, just look at the job creation figures. Since this Government took

:59:07. > :59:12.office, over one million new jobs have been created in the private

:59:12. > :59:22.sector. That is more - net - in the last two years than Labour managed

:59:22. > :59:29.

:59:29. > :59:33.in ten years. APPLAUSE Now, the Labour politicians who got

:59:33. > :59:39.us into this mess say they have a different way out of it. They call

:59:39. > :59:43.it Plan B and it goes like this: We should stop worrying about deficit

:59:43. > :59:49.reduction, borrow more money and spend it to boost the economy. It

:59:49. > :59:53.sounds so reasonable when you put it like that. Let me tell you why

:59:53. > :59:57.it's not. Right now, while we've got a deficit, the people we're

:59:57. > :00:00.borrowing money from believe that we'll pay it back - because we have

:00:00. > :00:04.set out a tough plan to cut spending and to live within our

:00:04. > :00:08.means. That is why our interest rates are amongst the lowest in the

:00:08. > :00:12.world, even though the deficit left to us by Labour was one of the

:00:12. > :00:17.highest in the world. If we did what Labour want, and watered-down

:00:17. > :00:23.our plans, the risk is that the people that we borrow money from

:00:23. > :00:27.will start to question our ability and resolve to pay off our debts.

:00:27. > :00:31.Some might refuse to lend us any money at all. Others would only

:00:31. > :00:37.lend it to us at higher interest rates. That would hurt the economy

:00:37. > :00:43.and it would hit people hard. If you have a mortgage of �100,000,

:00:43. > :00:48.just a 1% increase in interest rates would mean an extra �1,000 to

:00:48. > :00:53.pay each year. Labour's plan to borrow more is actually a massive

:00:53. > :01:01.gamble with our economy and our future. It would squander all of

:01:01. > :01:07.the sacrifices we've already made. Let me put it like this. We are

:01:07. > :01:17.here because we spent too much and borrowed too much. How on earth can

:01:17. > :01:23.

:01:23. > :01:27.the answer be more spending and I honestly think that Labour

:01:27. > :01:31.haven't learned a single thing. When they were in office their

:01:32. > :01:35.answer was always, borrow more money. Now they're out of office

:01:35. > :01:40.it's borrow more money. Whatever the day, whatever the question,

:01:40. > :01:50.whatever the weather, it's borrow more money. Borrow, borrow, borrow.

:01:50. > :01:56.

:01:56. > :01:59.Labour, the party of one notion - borrowing! APPLAUSE

:01:59. > :02:06.There are times I wonder whether they know anything about the real

:02:06. > :02:12.economy at all. Did you hear last week what Ed Miliband said about

:02:12. > :02:16.taxes? He described a tax cut as the Government writing people a

:02:16. > :02:22.cheque. I hope you don't mind, I just want to explain it for him. Ed,

:02:22. > :02:32.this is how it works. When people earn money, it's their money. Not

:02:32. > :02:36.

:02:36. > :02:39.the Government's money, it's their money. APPLAUSE

:02:39. > :02:45.Don't interrupt, I don't want him to lose the thread. Then the

:02:45. > :02:55.Government takes some of it away in tax. So, if we cut taxes, we're not

:02:55. > :02:56.

:02:56. > :03:01.giving them money, we're taking less of it away. OK? Got it?

:03:01. > :03:06.APPLAUSE You know what, while we are on it, who suffers when the

:03:06. > :03:14.wealthy businessman goes off to live in Geneva? Not him. It's those

:03:14. > :03:21.who want to work, because the jobs, the investment, the growth will go

:03:21. > :03:24.somewhere else. APPLAUSE Now we promised that those with the

:03:24. > :03:29.broadest shoulders would bear the biggest burden, and with us the

:03:29. > :03:38.rich will pay a greater share of tax in every year of this

:03:38. > :03:43.parliament than in any one of the 13 years under Labour. Under Labour.

:03:43. > :03:48.APPLAUSE We haven't forgotten what it was

:03:48. > :03:53.like under Labour. We remember who spent our golden legacy, who sold

:03:53. > :03:57.our gold, who busted our banks, smothered our businesses, racked up

:03:57. > :03:59.debts, who wrecked our economy, ruined our reputation, who risked

:03:59. > :04:09.our future. Who did this? Labour did this and our country should

:04:09. > :04:16.

:04:16. > :04:20.never forget it. APPLAUSE Now get our country on the rise, to

:04:20. > :04:24.get Britain on the rise, we need a whole new economy. More

:04:24. > :04:29.enterprising, more aspirational. And it is taking shape already. We

:04:29. > :04:33.are getting back our entrepreneurial streak. Last year

:04:33. > :04:37.the rate of new business creation was faster than any other year in

:04:37. > :04:43.our history. Let me repeat that. The rate at which new businesses

:04:43. > :04:47.started, faster last year than ever before. We are making things again.

:04:47. > :04:50.We had a trade surplus in cars for the first time in almost 40 years.

:04:50. > :04:54.And it's not just the old industries that are growing, it's

:04:54. > :04:59.the new ones. We are number one in the world for offshore wind. Number

:04:59. > :05:02.one in the world for tidal power. We have the world's first green

:05:02. > :05:07.investment bank. Britain leading, Britain on the rise. We're showing

:05:07. > :05:13.we can do it. Look at the new investment that's coming in. In the

:05:13. > :05:18.last two years, Google, Intel, Cisco, the big tech firms. They've

:05:18. > :05:22.all set up new bases here. And we are selling to the world again.

:05:22. > :05:25.When I became Prime Minister, I said to the Foreign Office, those

:05:25. > :05:29.embassies you have got, turn them into showrooms for our cars,

:05:29. > :05:35.department stores for our fashion, technology hubs for British

:05:35. > :05:43.startups. Yes, you are diplomats and as William said in that

:05:43. > :05:50.fantastic speech you are the best on the globe but you need to be our

:05:50. > :05:56.country's salesforce. APPLAUSE And when we look at what's

:05:56. > :06:02.happening, in just two years our exports to Brazil up 25%, to China

:06:02. > :06:06.up 40%, to Russia up 80%. There are so many opportunities in this world.

:06:06. > :06:11.I want to tell you briefly about just one business that is really

:06:11. > :06:18.seizing them. It's run bay guy called Alastair Lukies. He and his

:06:18. > :06:21.partner saw a world with almost six billion mobile phones but two

:06:21. > :06:25.billion bank accounts. They saw this huge gap in the market and

:06:25. > :06:29.they started a mobile banking firm, helping people in the poorest parts

:06:29. > :06:33.of the world manage their money and start new companies, using their

:06:33. > :06:38.mobile phones. He has been with me on trade missions all over the

:06:38. > :06:44.world. And his business is booming. Back in 2010 when we came to office,

:06:44. > :06:49.they employed about 100 people. Now it's more than 700. Back then they

:06:49. > :06:54.were nowhere in Africa. Nowhere in Asia. Now they're the global player

:06:54. > :07:01.with one million new users every month. So don't let anyone tell us

:07:01. > :07:11.that Britain can't make it in this world. We are the most enterprising,

:07:11. > :07:12.

:07:12. > :07:16.buccaneering, creative, dynamic nation on earth. APPLAUSE

:07:16. > :07:20.And to those who question whether it's right for me to load up a

:07:20. > :07:23.plane with business people, whether we are flying to Africa, Indonesia,

:07:23. > :07:28.the Gulf or China, whether we are taking people from energy, finance,

:07:28. > :07:32.technology, or yes, defence, I say this - there is a global battle out

:07:32. > :07:42.there to win jobs, orders, and contracts and in that battle I

:07:42. > :07:51.

:07:51. > :07:55.believe in leading from the front. APPLAUSE

:07:55. > :07:57.But to get our economy on the rise, there's a lot more that we need to

:07:57. > :08:00.do. Frankly, there's a lot more fights to be had. Because there are

:08:00. > :08:02.too many people out there that Wye call the yes-but-no people, the

:08:02. > :08:06.ones who say yes, our businesses need to expand, but no, we can't

:08:07. > :08:12.reform planning. It's simple. For a business to expand, it needs places

:08:12. > :08:17.to build. If it just takes too long, they'll will just build elsewhere.

:08:17. > :08:20.I visited a business the other day that wanted to open a big factory

:08:20. > :08:24.right outside Liverpool. But the council was going to take so long

:08:24. > :08:28.to approve the decision that they're now building that factory

:08:28. > :08:32.on the continent. They're taking hundreds of jobs with them. If we

:08:32. > :08:42.are going to be a winner in this global race, we have got to beat

:08:42. > :08:45.

:08:45. > :08:49.off this suffocating bureaucracy once and for all. APPLAUSE

:08:49. > :08:57.And then there are those who say, yes, of course we need more housing,

:08:57. > :09:01.but no to every development, and not in my back yard. House-building

:09:01. > :09:06.isn't just a vital engine of our economy, it goes much, much wider

:09:06. > :09:11.and bigger than that. It's OK for my generation, many of us have got

:09:11. > :09:18.on the ladder. But do you know the average age that someone buys their

:09:18. > :09:28.home today, without help from their parties? It is 33 years old. We are

:09:28. > :09:29.

:09:29. > :09:31.the party of home ownership and we cannot let this go on. So yes,

:09:31. > :09:33.we're doubling the discount for buying your council house, we are

:09:33. > :09:36.helping first-time buyers with 95% mortgages. But there's something

:09:36. > :09:41.else we need to do, and that's accept that we need to build a lot

:09:41. > :09:46.more houses in Britain. There are people, young people who work hard,

:09:46. > :09:48.year after year, but they're still living at home. They sit in their

:09:48. > :09:53.childhood bedroom looking out the window, dreaming of a place of

:09:53. > :10:03.their own and I want us to say you are our people, we are on your side,

:10:03. > :10:08.

:10:08. > :10:14.we will help you achieve your dreams. APPLAUSE

:10:14. > :10:21.If we want our people to rise so Britain can rise, we must tackle

:10:21. > :10:26.welfare. Here are two facts for you. Fact one - we spend �80 billion a

:10:26. > :10:32.year on welfare for working age people. Not pensions, just welfare

:10:33. > :10:37.for working age people. That's one in eight of every pound that the

:10:37. > :10:43.Government spends. Fact two - more of our children live in households

:10:43. > :10:48.where nobody works than almost any other nation in Europe. Let me put

:10:48. > :10:54.it simply, welfare isn't working, and this is a tragedy. Our reforms

:10:54. > :10:59.are just as profound as those of Beveridge 60 years ago. He had his

:10:59. > :11:06.great evils to slay, squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and

:11:06. > :11:10.disease. Here are mine - first, unfairness. What are hard-working

:11:10. > :11:15.people who travel long distances to get into work and pay their taxes

:11:15. > :11:20.meant to think when they see families, individual families,

:11:20. > :11:24.getting 40, 50, 60,000 of housing benefit to live in homes that these

:11:24. > :11:34.hard-working people could never afford themselves? It is an outrage

:11:34. > :11:38.

:11:38. > :11:44.and we are ending it by capping housing benefit. APPLAUSE

:11:44. > :11:51.The second evil - injustice. Here is the choice that we give our

:11:51. > :11:56.young people today. Choice one - work hard, go to college, get a job,

:11:56. > :12:01.live at home, save up for a flat. As I have just said, that can feel

:12:01. > :12:05.like forever. Choice two - don't get a job. Sign on. Don't even need

:12:05. > :12:08.to produce a CV when you do sign on. Get housing benefit, get a flat,

:12:08. > :12:12.and then don't ever get a job or you will lose a load of that

:12:12. > :12:17.housing benefit. We must be crazy. This is what we've done. Now you

:12:17. > :12:23.have to sign up a contract that says do you your bit, and we'll do

:12:23. > :12:33.ours. It requires you to have a real CV and makes clear you have to

:12:33. > :12:38.

:12:38. > :12:42.seek work and take work or you will lose your benefits. APPLAUSE

:12:42. > :12:48.and we are going to look at ending automatic access to housing benefit

:12:48. > :12:52.for people under 25, too. Let me put it like this, if hard-working

:12:52. > :13:02.young people have to live at home while they work and save, why

:13:02. > :13:08.should it be any different for those who don't? APPLAUSE

:13:08. > :13:11.The next evil - bureaucracy. Sign on, sign here. Come back in a

:13:11. > :13:15.fortnight. Repeat as required. What does this do for the guy who's been

:13:15. > :13:19.out of work for years, even decades, who's playing computer games all

:13:19. > :13:23.day, living out some fantasy because he hates his real life? For

:13:23. > :13:26.people like like him we have to do something new and we are. The work

:13:26. > :13:31.programme takes the money we are going to save from getting people

:13:31. > :13:37.off the dole, and it uses it to get them into work with proper training.

:13:37. > :13:42.We're prepared to spend up to �14,000 on one individual to get

:13:42. > :13:46.them into work and already almost 700,000 people have got on to the

:13:46. > :13:51.Work Programme. I want us to be clear in this party, in British

:13:51. > :13:54.politics today it is this party that's saying no one is a write-off,

:13:54. > :13:58.no one is hopeless, and with Iain Duncan Smith leading this

:13:58. > :14:08.revolution let us be the party that shows there is ability and promise

:14:08. > :14:13.

:14:13. > :14:18.in each and everyone of our citizens. APPLAUSE

:14:18. > :14:21.And just one more thing on welfare. You know our work experience

:14:21. > :14:27.programme, where we give young people a chance to work in a

:14:27. > :14:33.supermarket, a shop, or in an office? Here's what one trade union

:14:33. > :14:36.official said about it. I quote: The scheme belongs back in the 19th

:14:36. > :14:46.century, along with Oliver Twist and the workhouse. It is nothing

:14:46. > :14:49.

:14:49. > :14:55.short of state-sponsored slavery. What a snobish, appalling, outdated,

:14:55. > :14:59.wrong-idea to the work. We are giving them a chance. What's is

:14:59. > :15:06.cruel is not asking something of people, it's when we ask nothing of

:15:06. > :15:08.them. Work isn't slavery, it's poverty that is slavery. Let us,

:15:08. > :15:18.the modern compassionate Conservative Party who are the real

:15:18. > :15:26.

:15:26. > :15:30.champions of fighting poverty in To help people rise, to help

:15:30. > :15:35.Britain rise, there is a third - crucial - thing we must do. Educate

:15:35. > :15:42.all our children. And I mean really educate them, not just pump up the

:15:42. > :15:47.grades each year. In maths, in science, the reading, we've fallen

:15:47. > :15:52.behind, not just behind Germany and Canada, but behind Estonia and

:15:52. > :15:58.Australia, too. This is Britain's real School Report and it reads

:15:58. > :16:02."must do better". Now you have heard of pushly parents, sharp-

:16:02. > :16:06.elbowing their way to a better education for their children. This

:16:06. > :16:10.is a push lish Government. My approach is very, very -- pushy

:16:10. > :16:13.Government. My approach is very, very simple. I have two children in

:16:13. > :16:17.primary school. I want for your children what I want for mine. To

:16:17. > :16:23.go to schools where discipline is strict, where expectations are high

:16:23. > :16:27.and where no excuses are accepted for failure. I don't want great

:16:27. > :16:32.schools to be the preserve of those that can pay the fees or buy the

:16:32. > :16:34.nice house in the catchment area. I want those schools to be open to

:16:34. > :16:39.every child in every neighbourhood. The reason I know that every child

:16:39. > :16:43.can go to a school like this is because with this Government, more

:16:43. > :16:48.and more new ones are opening. You have heard from some of them this

:16:48. > :16:55.week, not just the 79 new free schools with over 100 more to come,

:16:55. > :17:03.but you have heard from some of the 2,000 academies we have helped to

:17:03. > :17:06.create. These are state schools given all the freedoms and carrying

:17:06. > :17:09.all the high expectations of private schools. That is my plan.

:17:09. > :17:19.Millions of children sent to independent schools, independent

:17:19. > :17:23.

:17:23. > :17:28.schools in the state sector. APPLAUSE It is a genuine revolution

:17:28. > :17:35.that's under way. The Harris Academy in Peckham has increased

:17:35. > :17:40.the number of students getting five good GCSEs from 12%, when it was

:17:40. > :17:45.under local authority control, to almost 90% now. The transformation

:17:45. > :17:50.has been astonishing and you know what, the methods have been

:17:50. > :17:55.Conservative. Smart uniforms, teachers in suits. Children taught

:17:55. > :17:59.physics, chemistry and biology, not soft options. Children set by

:17:59. > :18:06.ability with excellence applauded, extra resources for those in need

:18:06. > :18:12.but no excuses for slacking. When you see as a parent schools like

:18:12. > :18:16.that, it prompts one question: Why can't every school be that way? Why

:18:16. > :18:20.can't all our children have those chances? It is not because parents

:18:20. > :18:24.aren't ambitious enough. Most of these schools are massively

:18:24. > :18:28.oversubscribed. It is because the old educational establishment, the

:18:28. > :18:31.left-wing local authorities, the leaders of the teacher unions, the

:18:31. > :18:37.Labour Party theorists, it is because they stand in the way. When

:18:37. > :18:41.we saw a badly-failing school in Haringey and we wanted to turn it

:18:41. > :18:45.into an academy, the Labour authority, the Labour MP and the

:18:45. > :18:48.teacher unions all said no. When inspirational teachers and parents

:18:48. > :18:53.in Hammersmith, in Norwich, in Bristol, in Wigan, when they wanted

:18:53. > :18:57.to open free schools, the left-wing establishment said no. When we have

:18:57. > :19:01.proposed more pay for good teachers, getting rid of bad teachers, longer

:19:01. > :19:08.school days to help children learn, flexible school hours to help

:19:08. > :19:16.parents work, less nonsense about health and safety, the left-wing

:19:16. > :19:22.establishment have said one thing - no. You know what? When you ask why

:19:22. > :19:28.is a school failing, why aren't the children succeeding, you hear the

:19:28. > :19:35.same thing over and over again. What can you expect with children

:19:35. > :19:39.like these? These children are disadvantaged. Of course, we want

:19:39. > :19:46.to tackle every disadvantage, but isn't the greatest disadvantage of

:19:46. > :19:51.all being written off by those so in hock to a culture of low

:19:51. > :19:56.expectations, that they have forgotten what it is like to be

:19:56. > :20:02.ambitious, to want to transcend your background, to overcome

:20:02. > :20:06.circumstance and succeed on your own terms? It's that toxic culture

:20:06. > :20:12.of low expectations - that lack of ambition for every child - which

:20:12. > :20:18.has held this country back. I can tell you... APPLAUSE Let me tell

:20:18. > :20:22.you a thing or two about Michael Gove and I. We are not waiting for

:20:22. > :20:26.an outbreak of sanity at the headquarters of the NUT. We are not

:20:26. > :20:33.waiting for some great embrace of aspiration in the higher reaches of

:20:33. > :20:37.Labour before we act. Because our children can't wait. So when people

:20:37. > :20:42.say please slow down your education reform so somehow adults can learn

:20:42. > :20:46.to adjust to them, I say no. I want more free schools, more academies,

:20:46. > :20:51.more rigorous exams, more expected of every child in every school. To

:20:51. > :20:56.those who say - and some do - he wants children to have the kind of

:20:56. > :20:59.education he had at his posh school. You know what I say? Yes, you are

:20:59. > :21:09.absolutely right. I went to a great school. I want every child to have

:21:09. > :21:19.

:21:19. > :21:29.that sort of education! APPLAUSE I'm not here to defend privilege,

:21:29. > :21:34.

:21:34. > :21:42.I'm here to spread it. APPLAUSE I don't have a hard luck story. My

:21:42. > :21:46.Dad was a stockbroker from Berkshire. LAUGHTER It's only when

:21:46. > :21:50.your Dad's gone that you realise - not just how much you miss them -

:21:50. > :21:56.or how much you really love them - but how much you really owe them.

:21:56. > :22:00.My Dad influenced me much more than I ever thought. He was born with no

:22:00. > :22:05.heels on his feet, with legs that are about a foot shorter than they

:22:05. > :22:10.were meant to be, but he never complained even when he lost those

:22:10. > :22:16.legs later in his life. Because disability in the 1930s was such a

:22:16. > :22:21.sigma, he was an only child. Probably a lonely child. But my Dad

:22:21. > :22:25.was the eternal optimist. To him the glass was always half-full.

:22:25. > :22:29.Usually with something fairly alcoholic in it! LAUGHTER When I

:22:29. > :22:36.was a boy, I remember once going for a long walk with him in the

:22:36. > :22:41.village where we lived, and we walked passed the church he

:22:41. > :22:45.supported all his life and passed the village hall where he took part

:22:45. > :22:48.in long Parish Council meetings. He told me what he was most proud of.

:22:48. > :22:52.It was simple - working hard from the moment he left school and

:22:52. > :22:58.providing a good start in life for his family. Not just all of us, but

:22:58. > :23:06.helping his Mum, too, when his father ran off. Not a hard luck

:23:06. > :23:13.story, but a hard work story. Work hard. Family comes first. But put

:23:13. > :23:18.back into the community, too. There is nothing complicated about me. I

:23:18. > :23:22.believe in working hard, caring for my family and serving my country.

:23:22. > :23:27.There is nothing complicated about what we need today. This is still

:23:27. > :23:33.the greatest country on Earth. We showed that again this summer. 22nd

:23:33. > :23:38.in world population. Third in the medals table. But it's tough. These

:23:38. > :23:44.are difficult times. We're being tested. How will we come through

:23:44. > :23:50.it? Again, it's not complicated. Hard work. Strong families. Taking

:23:50. > :23:55.responsibility. Serving others. As I said on the steps of Number Ten

:23:55. > :23:59.Downing Street before walking through that door, "Those who can

:23:59. > :24:02.should, those who can't we will always help." The job of this party,

:24:03. > :24:06.this Government, is to help bring out the best in this country.

:24:06. > :24:10.Because at our best we are unbeatable. We know Britain can

:24:10. > :24:15.deliver because we have seen it time and time again. This is the

:24:15. > :24:20.country that invented the computer, defeated the Nazis, started the web,

:24:20. > :24:24.sauf off the slave trade, unravelled DNA, fought off every

:24:24. > :24:29.invader for a thousand years. We even persuaded the Queen to jump

:24:29. > :24:38.out of a helicopter to make the rest of the world smile. There is

:24:38. > :24:42.nothing we can't do. Can we make Britain the best place in the world

:24:42. > :24:46.to start a business, grow a business and to help that business

:24:46. > :24:53.take on the world and win? Yes. Can we the people, the people who

:24:53. > :24:58.invented the welfare state in the first place turn it into something

:24:58. > :25:01.that rewards efforts, helps keep families together and really help

:25:01. > :25:04.the poorest with a new start in life? Yes. Can we take our schools

:25:04. > :25:09.and turn our students that will take on the brightest in the world?

:25:09. > :25:16.Yes, of course we can. Let us here in this hall, here in this

:25:16. > :25:21.Government, together in this country make this predge, let's

:25:21. > :25:24.build an aspiration nation. Let's get Britain on the rise. Deficit,

:25:24. > :25:29.paid down. Tough decisions, taken. Growth, fired up. Aspiration,

:25:29. > :25:33.backed all the way. We know what it takes to win, to win in the tough

:25:33. > :25:36.world of today, to win for all our people, to win for Britain. So

:25:36. > :25:41.let's get out there and do it! APPLAUSE

:25:41. > :25:46.STUDIO: The Prime Minister has finished speaking. He had it all

:25:46. > :25:50.written down this time. We were able to time it quite carefully. He

:25:50. > :25:54.is calling his wife up on to the stage as he takes the applause. The

:25:54. > :25:58.aspiration nation, that was the theme of the Prime Minister's

:25:58. > :26:02.speech. And like all politicians, he used the Olympic analogy, the

:26:02. > :26:07.country had done so well in the Games, he wanted to compete as a

:26:07. > :26:12.nation in the new global race with new emerging economies and markets

:26:12. > :26:16.springing up all over the globe. He made sure to name-check Afghanistan

:26:16. > :26:20.and our troops there, calling for applause for the work they are

:26:20. > :26:24.doing and for the lives that have been lost there. There was a

:26:24. > :26:28.standing ovation for over one minute. He said they weren't the

:26:28. > :26:33.party of the rich. Interestingly, without naming it, he said he had

:26:33. > :26:36.gone to a posh school, he wasn't going to apologise for that. He had

:26:36. > :26:41.a great education and he wanted everyone else to have as good an

:26:41. > :26:45.education as he had. He of course had a side-swipe at Labour, having

:26:45. > :26:49.gone for the one-nation theme last week. He talked of Labour saying

:26:49. > :26:54.they may preach about one nation, but they practise class war. And he

:26:54. > :27:00.said Labour was the party of one- notion, which was borrowing. So

:27:00. > :27:04.just looking at the words, it was a well-constructed speech, as Mr

:27:04. > :27:14.Miliband's was. It will have gone down well with the party faithful

:27:14. > :27:17.

:27:17. > :27:22.there. He struck the right chords, it was something that they wanted

:27:22. > :27:32.to hear. A slightly different David Cameron to the one that became

:27:32. > :27:47.

:27:47. > :27:52.leader in 2005, when there was barely a green mention.

:27:52. > :27:55.We are going to get some expert reaction. First, we want to hear

:27:55. > :28:02.the people who matter - that's you. The e-mails?

:28:02. > :28:05.Yes, there was a lot of praise for the delivery of the speech. "The

:28:05. > :28:14.pressure against David Cameron to deliver a strong speech, he has

:28:14. > :28:21.done that. Full of detail. While answering the critics."

:28:21. > :28:27.Gary, got to hand it to the guy, a fantastic speech, expertly

:28:27. > :28:37.delivered. When it comes to speechifying, Cameron is making

:28:37. > :28:40.

:28:40. > :28:43.Miliband look like an amateur." "Some good digs over one-nation.

:28:43. > :28:48.Very solid on the economy and telling the truth. This has

:28:48. > :28:52.substance and policy and he is doing well." This from Amanda,

:28:52. > :29:00."Voters are interested in the economy and not in David Cameron's

:29:00. > :29:04.family. We need jobs that pay well." This from Peter, "David

:29:04. > :29:08.Cameron said the Conservative Party should be proud about saving

:29:08. > :29:12.hundreds of children's' lives through international aid. No, no,

:29:12. > :29:17.no, the money belongs to the British people, not the

:29:17. > :29:23.Conservative Party. The British people should be proud." This from

:29:23. > :29:27.Kath, "Does David Cameron think we are all nit wits? Labour - borrow,

:29:27. > :29:34.borrow and borrow. What are the Conservatives doing? Borrow, borrow

:29:34. > :29:39.and yet more borrowing." Is that enough borrowers?

:29:40. > :29:44.Give me your instant reaction? thought it was well-crafted. What

:29:44. > :29:48.it did was to take the hard messages and marpry them with the

:29:48. > :29:52.tender messages -- marry them with the tender messages. We can only

:29:52. > :29:57.get out of the economic problems we have through hard work, through

:29:57. > :30:00.tackling welfare abuse and this is the way to relieve poverty. Work is

:30:00. > :30:10.the answer to poverty. In that sense, it was a very balanced

:30:10. > :30:15.

:30:15. > :30:18.What's new about saying work is the way? That's what, whether he

:30:18. > :30:23.delivered it or not is not for me to decide but Gordon Brown thought

:30:23. > :30:26.work was the way. What's different? As I said at the beginning, what

:30:26. > :30:30.this this speech was about, was about reconnecting with the

:30:30. > :30:33.Conservative Party, emphasising Conservative values, emphasising

:30:33. > :30:36.that the Coalition is doing Conservative things and not just

:30:36. > :30:40.doing the bidding of the Lib Dems. That's what it was really all about.

:30:40. > :30:45.All right. Let's go straight back to Birmingham to our political

:30:45. > :30:50.editor, Nick Robinson. Give us your impressions. David Cameron doesn't

:30:50. > :30:54.do the great stirring conference oratory. At times I felt it was

:30:54. > :30:57.like a head teacher delivering an address to the school or a Church

:30:57. > :31:01.of England vicar delivering a sermon. A lot of it he was trying

:31:01. > :31:05.to teach the audience, look, this is very hard, he was saying, to the

:31:05. > :31:09.Conservative Party and to the country. The whole tone of it

:31:09. > :31:13.really was, I know we are not where we hoped to be as a party, as a

:31:13. > :31:17.country, I know we haven't sorted out the deficit and got growth in

:31:17. > :31:20.the way that I had dreamed of doing. But we can do it. Trying to capture

:31:21. > :31:25.once again as we have seen throughout this conference season,

:31:25. > :31:29.that Olympic spirit. But it was very, very short, in fact absent of

:31:29. > :31:32.new policies. What it was really doing was an appeal to the country,

:31:32. > :31:36.saying, look, the reason we are dealing with the deficit, with

:31:36. > :31:39.welfare, dealing with the schools, is because if we don't the country

:31:39. > :31:43.is sunk. It will lose the competition, the great global race

:31:43. > :31:47.as he described it, not just against the famous big developing

:31:47. > :31:52.countries like China and India, but countries he has visited in weeks

:31:52. > :31:58.and months, Mexico, Brazil, and others. Interesting how much of the

:31:58. > :32:01.speech was defined by other events and other speeches, whether it's Mr

:32:01. > :32:05.Miliband's speech last week talking about one nation or the continuing

:32:05. > :32:09.problems with Andrew Mitchell and the sense of a posh Minister

:32:09. > :32:14.referring to a policeman as plebs. The Prime Minister went out of his

:32:14. > :32:19.way to try to deal with all these issues, he had to deal with what

:32:19. > :32:22.people are saying about him and his party. In that sense it was pretty

:32:23. > :32:26.defensive. They say this about us, but we say that. They say this

:32:26. > :32:29.about us, but we say the other. Again and again he was having to

:32:29. > :32:33.deal, as you say, with the suggestion that he was privileged,

:32:33. > :32:37.the suggestion that he was elitist, the suggestion that the Tories

:32:37. > :32:41.didn't care about the poor and again and again he had to pose

:32:41. > :32:47.those phrases and try and answer them. I would be very surprised

:32:47. > :32:53.indeed if we don't see on YouTube by the end of the day someone's

:32:53. > :32:57.who's cut together him using the phrases. Rich, posh, privileged.

:32:57. > :33:01.They'll edit them together and say there you are, it's coming out of

:33:01. > :33:07.his own mouth. If they weren't going to, they're going to now! I

:33:07. > :33:11.am sure you put an idea in people's minds. I get a sense that whether

:33:11. > :33:15.it reasonates on the country, we can't tell that at the moment, it

:33:15. > :33:19.probably - I got a feeling, you can tell us, I got a feeling it was

:33:19. > :33:23.going down well with the Tory faithful in the hall. Yes,

:33:23. > :33:30.interesting, I choose today not to sit - I often stand at the edge and

:33:30. > :33:37.I had a seat on a row of a group of Conservatives. They rather quietly

:33:37. > :33:41.kept saying "yes, that's right", there was that sense, like a sermon.

:33:41. > :33:45.Let's get clear, this is not a Michael Heseltine or Neil Kinnock,

:33:45. > :33:49.the sort of speakers that get the hair up on the back of your neck,

:33:49. > :33:53.who really create that revivalist rally, if you like that President

:33:53. > :33:59.Obama can do. He doesn't try to do it. He is not capable of doing it.

:33:59. > :34:01.He hasn't just done it. What he did instead is that that sort of sense

:34:01. > :34:05.in the Conservative Party of them saying that's right, I agree with

:34:05. > :34:08.that, thank goodness he said it. It's very kpwhrrb, -- English, if

:34:08. > :34:11.you like and David Cameron in that sense was being himself. It is

:34:11. > :34:16.interesting, I said before the speech, that Steve Hilton, the guy

:34:16. > :34:20.who went for the rhetoric, who told him to talk about sunshine and

:34:20. > :34:25.hugging trees and hoodies and the rest, he's gone and with it all

:34:25. > :34:29.that sort of rhetoric has gone, as well. Yes, we got the phrase that

:34:29. > :34:33.he hopes will stick on, I am not convinced it will last long, I have

:34:33. > :34:38.to say, aspiration nation. He was trying to make a gesture about

:34:38. > :34:44.talking to people who want their homes and their jobs and saying

:34:44. > :34:49.that he may be privileged but -- he wants to spread that privilege than

:34:49. > :34:53.restrict it. The phrase is one, like so many political phrases, it

:34:53. > :35:01.may not last that long. Aspiration nation sounds like a track from a

:35:01. > :35:06.house music album. It reveals the nightclubs you go to! I am the one

:35:06. > :35:09.putting these videos together, as well! Nick, I suggest to you this,

:35:09. > :35:14.he can make all the speeches he wants. He can have all the

:35:14. > :35:18.aspiration he wants. He can strike all the right chords as he sees it.

:35:18. > :35:22.But unless growth comes back to this economy and unless there is a

:35:22. > :35:27.sense that the pain has been worth it, unless people's living

:35:27. > :35:32.standards start to rise again instead of falling as they do now,

:35:32. > :35:35.he runs out of time to have any hope of winning an overall majority.

:35:35. > :35:39.I think that's right. I think he knows that's right. I think that's

:35:39. > :35:43.why in some ways the most striking passage of the speech for me was

:35:43. > :35:46.not any attempt at soaring rhetoric, nothing that got applause in the

:35:46. > :35:51.hall, there was a moment where I think what he was trying to do is

:35:51. > :35:55.look down the lens as I am doing now and speak to people directly at

:35:55. > :35:59.home or in their offices. When he said, look, it wasn't supposed to

:35:59. > :36:04.take this long, it wasn't supposed to be this difficult. We had hoped

:36:04. > :36:07.to be doing much better. Not his exact phrases, but the sentiment

:36:07. > :36:10.what he was trying to do is reach out to the country and say, look I

:36:10. > :36:15.do get this, you know, I am aware this wasn't exactly how it was

:36:15. > :36:19.supposed to go. But we are on the right track. Let's keep going.

:36:19. > :36:23.Remember, elections only have about one or two slogans and we are on

:36:23. > :36:27.the right track, don't turn back, is one of the slogans that

:36:27. > :36:31.governments always use. Oppositions always say, time for change. In a

:36:32. > :36:36.way, I think you got what are likely to be the key election

:36:36. > :36:39.phrases in this speech. That sense of, we are not there but we are

:36:39. > :36:42.getting there, don't change. Again what he described as the battle

:36:42. > :36:45.ground, the battlelines of the next election, you know, are you in

:36:45. > :36:49.favour of these sorts of welfare cuts, or are you against? In favour

:36:49. > :36:53.of those sort of school reforms, are you against? Are you in favour

:36:53. > :36:57.of cutting the deficit by cutting spending, or are you against? He

:36:57. > :37:02.was writing a script for the next two years of politics, not one that

:37:02. > :37:06.jumps off the page now, but will write the advertising slogans and

:37:06. > :37:09.speeches for a long time to come. Indeed I am sure that's right.

:37:09. > :37:14.Thank you for that and all your help during the party conferences,

:37:14. > :37:23.it's been great to have you. Yes, let's get a sense of how Mr

:37:23. > :37:26.Cameron's speech went down with the party members. Adam's with some now.

:37:26. > :37:31.Hi there. Have we got the aspiration nation, does that make

:37:31. > :37:34.these the aspiration delegation? Let's find out. What did you reckon

:37:34. > :37:38.of the speech? Very inspiring speech. We came to Birmingham and

:37:38. > :37:41.everyone thought we were going to and divided party. Here we are,

:37:41. > :37:44.backing Boris, backing Dave, backing George, we are here going

:37:44. > :37:48.forward for the country. What did you think about that phrase

:37:48. > :37:54.aspiration nation? I think Cameron has shown us that we are an active

:37:54. > :37:59.party. We do what we say we are going to do. We just don't talk

:37:59. > :38:04.about it. He has given us objectives for the future. With his

:38:04. > :38:08.clear leadership we can do them. Who next? Marks out of ten? It's

:38:08. > :38:12.going to be ten out of ten. That's the best best speech I have heard

:38:12. > :38:17.our Prime Minister do ever. It was aspiration as our friends have said,

:38:17. > :38:20.he talked about the nation. We are all in this together. It's all

:38:21. > :38:24.walks of life. It's given everybody that inspiration and opportunity.

:38:24. > :38:29.The Prime Minister didn't talk the country down. It was Britain on the

:38:29. > :38:34.rise. It was a fabulous speech. did warn about that sink or swim

:38:34. > :38:40.moment. Who wants to tell me what the mood was like in the hall.

:38:40. > :38:44.Electric. I honestly think that it's the messiah Britain needed.

:38:44. > :38:46.Cameron is the Messiah. That Britain needed and we have it in

:38:46. > :38:52.David Cameron. Britain's going to go from strength to strength. I

:38:52. > :38:56.want to say, I am a Muslim councillor and I want to tell you

:38:56. > :39:00.that Islam teaches Conservativism, it's a home for them to join the

:39:00. > :39:04.Conservative Party, because we can be successful together. A nice

:39:04. > :39:08.political broadcast there. Are you going to talk to us live? Marks out

:39:08. > :39:10.of ten for your boss's speech? solid nine. This is a Prime

:39:11. > :39:15.Minister that's going to lead to us victory at the next election. It

:39:15. > :39:19.was a solid performance. It was a very, very good speech indeed.

:39:19. > :39:23.of your backbench colleagues have been calling for more measures on

:39:23. > :39:26.growth, I didn't really hear any. In my experience there are a lot of

:39:26. > :39:30.successful small engineering and manufacturing businesses in my

:39:30. > :39:34.constituency. Georgiev has been to -- George Osborne has been to my

:39:34. > :39:38.constituency. I think they're pleased with the reduction deficit

:39:38. > :39:43.measures giving them confidence to win more business and this has to

:39:43. > :39:47.be a private sector-led recovery. My part of the world we are doing

:39:47. > :39:52.our bit to help with that growth that we need. Chris Kelly, the MP,

:39:52. > :39:58.thank you. Now you are a councillor. I am. Marks out of ten for the

:39:58. > :40:02.speech? Chris gave it nine out of ten. It would have been ten, if he

:40:02. > :40:05.promised a referendum on the EU. I thought he was going to mention

:40:05. > :40:11.something in his speech. He ducked the issue which disappointed me. I

:40:11. > :40:14.would have liked him to go further on Europe. How How angry are you

:40:14. > :40:17.about that? I am disappointed because he had been hinting a few

:40:18. > :40:21.days ago there would be some kind of vote and that's what he's been

:40:21. > :40:26.leading us to believe and there was nothing. I was waiting to hear that.

:40:26. > :40:29.A bit disappointed. Interesting. Thank you. A female delegate, at

:40:30. > :40:39.last! What did you think about the Prime Minister talking about his

:40:40. > :40:41.

:40:41. > :40:43.son and his late father? I thought it really touched a chord. It was

:40:43. > :40:45.really intense and emotional. It wasn't something that was

:40:45. > :40:52.unnecessary, it really gave something to the speech. I didn't

:40:52. > :40:56.feel like it was being added in for simply his own - his own

:40:56. > :41:01.experiences are really important. It was good. Who saw Boris

:41:01. > :41:06.yesterday? Who would like to compare the two? Difficult to

:41:06. > :41:14.compare those, very different styles. Which one did you prefer?

:41:14. > :41:17.couldn't possibly comment. Boris entertainment factor, 11. But

:41:17. > :41:21.statesmanship, it was Mr Cameron. You have all been entertaining,

:41:21. > :41:28.thank you for talking to us. Conference has been packed up, back

:41:28. > :41:32.to the studio. Well, of course... The Messiah he

:41:32. > :41:35.was saying! The Daily Politics was on air when he came back. Thank you

:41:35. > :41:39.for that religious reference. David Cameron will be thrilled. Exactly,

:41:39. > :41:43.I am thrilled. Before we move on, picking up on that point, which

:41:43. > :41:46.speech did you prefer? Did you prefer Boris or did you like David

:41:47. > :41:52.Cameron's more? For a Prime Minister, David Cameron's was

:41:52. > :41:56.obviously the best. There's a surprise! I am not saying Boris one

:41:56. > :42:00.day can't be leader but I would like to see him as Minister first.

:42:00. > :42:04.Some of the other things mentioned there, on the referendum on Europe,

:42:04. > :42:08.was it a mistake not to talk about it in the speech? He has hinted

:42:08. > :42:11.about it all week. There is a lot of talk about it. Why not put it in

:42:11. > :42:16.the speech? He might have put it in the speech. I imagine he is going

:42:16. > :42:19.to return to that. He has mentioned it several times. He's been

:42:19. > :42:22.trailing his coat on this, saying either a referendum or something at

:42:22. > :42:27.the time of the election. Most people want a referendum, not a

:42:27. > :42:32.reference to it just in the manifesto. They definitely want to

:42:32. > :42:37.have a choice on the ballot paper for each person to make. On the

:42:37. > :42:42.issue of austerity, this wasn't all about austerity, this was about

:42:42. > :42:46.aspiration. But as one of the delegates there said, where were

:42:46. > :42:49.the growth, or was asked, where were the growth policies? Should

:42:49. > :42:54.there have been more specifically about this is what we are going to

:42:54. > :42:59.do to achieve that growth that's been eleading us? -- eleading us. I

:42:59. > :43:03.know all the time people are calling for growth passages, --

:43:03. > :43:07.packages, the reality is you can't attach a car to a jump lead and it

:43:07. > :43:11.goes off. Economies are not like a car in a snow storm. The most

:43:11. > :43:16.important thing, in my opinion, is actually first getting the deficit

:43:16. > :43:19.down. This is a real threat to us. We sometimes forget that other

:43:19. > :43:24.countries have reduced their deficits far quicker than we are.

:43:24. > :43:30.We are going gradual about it. When people talk... Because they haven't

:43:30. > :43:33.cut enough? No, I think the Government's programme is properly

:43:33. > :43:38.calibrated. But what's happening in the eurozone, for example, they're

:43:38. > :43:42.reducing their deficits much faster than we are. We could be left

:43:42. > :43:46.looking quite exposed. I think the Government's approach is designed

:43:46. > :43:53.to be balanced, both to allow the growth to happen, but also to get

:43:53. > :43:56.the deficit down. OK. Thank you. Let's go back to Birmingham and the

:43:56. > :44:01.Culture Secretary Maria Miller, recently joined the Cabinet and

:44:01. > :44:05.joins us from Birmingham. Welcome to the Daily Politics. The Prime

:44:05. > :44:09.Minister's theme was that Britain's on the rise again. Isn't the harsh

:44:09. > :44:14.truth the only thing we are sure that is on the rise is that the

:44:14. > :44:19.deficit is on the rise again? think what we have just had from

:44:19. > :44:24.the Prime Minister is an immensely powerful speech, setting out the

:44:24. > :44:29.true battle ground that we need to move forward on, talking about how

:44:29. > :44:32.we become a globally more competitive nation through things

:44:32. > :44:36.like welfare reform, educational reform, but also making sure that

:44:36. > :44:40.Britain is a great place to do business. What's the answer to my

:44:40. > :44:45.question, that the deficit is on the rise again? Well, the answer to

:44:45. > :44:53.your question is that we have cut the deficit by a quarter. That was

:44:53. > :44:56.last year. It's rising again. you know, it's early days in this

:44:56. > :44:58.year. We have got the plans in place to make sure we get the

:44:58. > :45:02.deficit under control. Unfortunately, we heard from Labour

:45:02. > :45:05.last week that they would do more to increase the deficit in the

:45:05. > :45:08.future. That may or may not be true, I am not talking about Labour. I am

:45:08. > :45:16.talking about you. Are you telling viewers that in this financial year

:45:16. > :45:21.the deficit will be smaller than it We need to make sure the financial

:45:21. > :45:23.year comes to an end. You will know that the financial figures were

:45:23. > :45:26.reviewsed recently for last year. What you need to be looking at -

:45:26. > :45:30.what the whole nation will be looking at - is what the Prime

:45:30. > :45:34.Minister has been setting out as our real battlegrounds for fighting

:45:34. > :45:38.the next two years to get Britain back on track so that it is the

:45:38. > :45:41.competitive nation we need it to be. We are dealing with a global

:45:41. > :45:45.economy now. It is no good looking at our near neighbours. We need to

:45:45. > :45:50.be looking on a global level as to how we become a nation that can

:45:51. > :45:54.succeed and not get left behind. That is powerful and will resonate

:45:54. > :45:59.beyond Birmingham. Mr Cameron said that the Tories are for everyone,

:45:59. > :46:06.North or South, black or white. It is hardly going to work if your

:46:06. > :46:10.Conservative Leader in Scotland describes 90% of Scots as

:46:10. > :46:13."scroungers"? What David Cameron was talking about today was true of

:46:13. > :46:17.this party. You saw the reaction in the Hall. We are all about the

:46:17. > :46:21.party of aspiration. We are about giving people that opportunity for

:46:21. > :46:25.the future. Coupled with that, we have to make sure we have a

:46:25. > :46:28.farewell fair state. The work that Iain Duncan Smith has been doing

:46:28. > :46:33.has really made sure that that would be a reality. If you are the

:46:33. > :46:41.party of one nation, how does your own leader in Scotland describe 90%

:46:42. > :46:47.of Scots as living off the state, net-takers from the state? One-

:46:47. > :46:51.nation is making sure we give those people that were written off by the

:46:51. > :46:55.last Government a real chance. That is where the Work Programme, 3,000

:46:55. > :46:58.more people into work as a result of the effectiveness of that

:46:58. > :47:01.particular policy, shows that when we have got the right support in

:47:01. > :47:05.place we can really make a difference and perhaps working with

:47:05. > :47:09.the Scottish Government we need to make sure that even more people in

:47:09. > :47:14.Scotland have that opportunity, too. Mr Cameron said it is time to sink

:47:14. > :47:17.or swim. What are we doing at the moment? Well, what we are doing is

:47:17. > :47:21.clearly setting out the battleground for the future of this

:47:21. > :47:25.country. Are we sinking or swimming as we set out this battleground?

:47:25. > :47:29.is about swimming in a competitive global world. That is why it is so

:47:29. > :47:33.important that we are putting in the sort of infrastructure that I

:47:33. > :47:36.was talking about earlier today, making sure that 4G is brought

:47:36. > :47:40.forward by six months, making sure we have super-fast broadband,

:47:40. > :47:44.making sure that all of that infrastructure is in place so we

:47:44. > :47:49.cannot only attract international business, but retain it as well. I

:47:49. > :47:53.think that is a story of swimming. Maybe. But sometimes swimming

:47:53. > :47:57.against the tide. You have been in power for two-and-a-half years. Why

:47:57. > :48:02.haven't we got 4G now? New York has it. I can get it there. Why haven't

:48:02. > :48:08.we got it? Well, for two-and-a-half years we have been making sure we

:48:08. > :48:18.can work with the operators to put 4G in place. Why haven't we got it?

:48:18. > :48:18.

:48:18. > :48:23.Never mind - stick with 4G, Minister. 4G is a key to a lot. Why

:48:23. > :48:27.has your Government failed to deliver and finds itself behind so

:48:27. > :48:34.many other countries when it comes to the new state-of-the-art

:48:34. > :48:38.technology? What you will know is that we will be bringing in 4G in

:48:38. > :48:41.the first half of last year - first half of next year. That is six

:48:41. > :48:47.months in advance of where it was supposed to happen. These are

:48:47. > :48:54.complex negotiations. It is not just about 4G. Making sure that we

:48:54. > :48:59.have got connectivity up-and-down the country is all about our-of-

:48:59. > :49:04.�500 million investment in super- fast broadband for rural areas as

:49:04. > :49:07.well. Altogether, we are pressing forward in a way that is

:49:07. > :49:12.impressive... We know the case. We are wondering when you are going to

:49:12. > :49:17.get it to us. Let me come on to Leveson now. You are not in a

:49:17. > :49:21.position to give us an opinion. Do you accept that you may come down

:49:21. > :49:25.in favour of statutory regulation of the press? Well, the important

:49:25. > :49:30.thing is if you have asked somebody to do a report, that you wait and

:49:30. > :49:34.listen to what it says before you come to a final conclusion. That is

:49:35. > :49:38.what the Government will be doing. Do you accept the principle that

:49:38. > :49:42.you may proceed to statutory regulation of the press? Well, I

:49:42. > :49:45.think what we have seen throughout the Leveson Inquiry is the sort of

:49:45. > :49:49.evidence which shows us that things have been an enormous problem in

:49:49. > :49:55.the past. I think the whole event has touched the nerve of the nation.

:49:55. > :49:58.What we need to do now is make sure that we wait, Lord Leveson is doing

:49:58. > :50:01.an important and fundamental report. We need to wait for those findings.

:50:01. > :50:06.Then the Government will respond to that. All right. Thank you very

:50:07. > :50:12.much for joining us. While we were talking to the

:50:12. > :50:17.Minister, the BBC is now reporting that the proposed merger, probably

:50:17. > :50:24.the biggest merge ner the history of the world -- merger in the

:50:24. > :50:30.history of the world between British Aerospace and EADS is off.

:50:30. > :50:34.What is your reaction to that? not surprised. Shareholders of

:50:34. > :50:39.British Aerospace probably were going to vote against it and I

:50:39. > :50:49.should think the board of the company were very conscious of that

:50:49. > :50:57.and of investor anger. Do you think the Government will in some ways be

:50:57. > :51:00.relieved that it is not going to happen? They might well be. British

:51:00. > :51:06.Aerospace has become increasingly American and it was going to be

:51:06. > :51:09.very difficult to have this tie-up. It makes it very difficult for

:51:09. > :51:16.British Aerospace, despite all the pitfalls that a merger could

:51:16. > :51:21.produce with the French and the German governments, British

:51:21. > :51:26.Aerospace is a huge company, it stays on its own, but it's

:51:26. > :51:30.dependent on defence contracts from the United States and from Britain.

:51:30. > :51:34.Both countries are cutting their defence budgets? That's right. Of

:51:34. > :51:38.course, there will be other defence contracts elsewhere in the world.

:51:38. > :51:43.There are rising defence budgets in Asia in particular. British

:51:43. > :51:47.Aerospace is going to have to meet that challenge. So our future, the

:51:47. > :51:51.future of the company depends on selling more arms to dictators in

:51:51. > :51:55.the developing world? It involves selling them to the Third World.

:51:55. > :52:01.They are not all dictators in South East Asia. There are quite a few of

:52:01. > :52:06.them. Dictators tend to be the big arms pirates? We sell to people

:52:06. > :52:10.that we regard as our friends and I'm sure they will have to look for

:52:10. > :52:17.new markets. Thank you. How is the speech going to be

:52:17. > :52:21.written up in tomorrow's papers? Kevin McGuire and Sam Coates join

:52:22. > :52:31.us. You have a few good slogans - Britain on the rise, we are on the

:52:31. > :52:38.right track. Any of those catch your eye? Yes, stick with me. He

:52:38. > :52:43.sounded like a slightly harsher Margaret Thatcher. It wasn't a bad

:52:43. > :52:51.effort for mid-term. There's one - there's two noticeable absences.

:52:51. > :52:54.One was "coalition". The second one is - I'm fairly certain he did not

:52:54. > :52:58.praise the police, despite those two police officers that were

:52:58. > :53:02.killed in Greater Manchester. That is unheard of. That is another nail

:53:02. > :53:07.in the coffin of Andrew Mitchell. While we are talking about it, we

:53:07. > :53:11.have heard that it's been talked about fairly openly at the

:53:11. > :53:16.Conference about Andrew Mitchell's future. Does it look as if his

:53:16. > :53:20.cards are marked? We haven't been told that he is going, but there is

:53:20. > :53:24.is a lot of chatter about it. I thought one indicator was that

:53:24. > :53:26.quite a lot of the speech was designed to address the question of

:53:27. > :53:34.whether or not the Conservative Party was a party that looked down

:53:34. > :53:44.on people as plebs or not. David Cameron should have spent a large

:53:44. > :53:54.

:53:54. > :53:59.chunk of the speech from defending that. Kevin McGuire, he did manage

:53:59. > :54:03.to do that fairly effectively, answer the critics about the Tory

:54:03. > :54:09.Party being just a party for the rich, that he is a Prime Minister

:54:09. > :54:16.that was somehow privileged, more privileged than most people in the

:54:16. > :54:26.country. He did address all those concerns? It's a toxic word for him

:54:26. > :54:28.

:54:28. > :54:35.- he wouldn't use "Eton" again. So he wouldn't say where it was. You

:54:36. > :54:42.wait until April and disabled kids are losing money and his welfare

:54:43. > :54:47.cuts. It will be harder for him to do it then. Everybody knows Ed

:54:47. > :54:53.Miliband isn't a class warrior. When times are tough, when he is

:54:53. > :54:59.coming up with that tax cut, it looks bad for him. If you take him

:54:59. > :55:04.at his word in the Hall, he made a good fist of it. If you analyse it,

:55:04. > :55:07.it looks less good for him. What about the narrative? Has a

:55:07. > :55:17.narrative been - he's been talking about it before - did it come

:55:17. > :55:18.

:55:18. > :55:23.through strongly on school reform, on welfare savings? Oh yes,

:55:23. > :55:26.completely. What was interesting is that they are - some of David

:55:26. > :55:30.Cameron's aides are saying what we saw today was a speech that

:55:30. > :55:35.provides you with the theme for the election. This is very much the

:55:35. > :55:38.template. What was interesting was, yes, he did the one-nation

:55:38. > :55:44.Conservative, he sought to address those questions. He did another big

:55:44. > :55:49.and interesting thing. He talked about Britain at the crossroads.

:55:49. > :55:54.Effectively, things are getting better, don't let the other side

:55:54. > :55:58.mess it up. To inject fear into the debate quite this early could be

:55:58. > :56:02.taken as a defensive sign. It is interesting about just how much

:56:02. > :56:05.this speech was about answering the questions set by other people. I

:56:05. > :56:09.felt he was seeking to address the questions that have been raised in

:56:09. > :56:16.the media, the questions that have been railzed by his opponent. I

:56:16. > :56:21.thought -- raised by his opponent. I thought he did so fluently.

:56:21. > :56:25.message "stick with us", Kevin McGuire, at what is a difficult

:56:25. > :56:29.crossroads, and he put that notion in people's minds about Labour

:56:29. > :56:34.borrowing, borrowing, borrowing. Simple message, that he hopes will

:56:34. > :56:39.stick in people's minds? Yes, and a very good joke on the idea of

:56:39. > :56:42.Labour as a one-nation party, one notion - more borrowing, that is

:56:42. > :56:46.very good. If Labour is going to have any chance of winning, they

:56:46. > :56:49.have to win the argument they have lost for five years and that is

:56:49. > :56:53.what caused the financial crisis? Was it spending on schools and

:56:53. > :56:58.hospitals and public spending? Or was it the financial collapse?

:56:58. > :57:02.David Cameron plays it back every time on to Labour's public spending.

:57:02. > :57:07.Labour has not got an effective answer to that. Until they win a

:57:07. > :57:12.five-year-old argument, they will struggle to win in 2015. Let's

:57:12. > :57:16.rewind, we have the SNP Conference coming up. Over the last three

:57:16. > :57:22.weeks, give a very brief synopsis, the state of the parties, which

:57:22. > :57:26.leader has emerged triumphant? an odd party conference season. We

:57:26. > :57:30.are half-way through a five-year fixed term Parliament. There is a

:57:30. > :57:35.question about why we need to have these conferences at all. The

:57:35. > :57:40.simple answer is they make money for the political parties. Nick

:57:40. > :57:47.Clegg, as he always does, didn't face any dramatic challenge at his

:57:47. > :57:57.party. There is a big question with him over whether or not he can go

:57:57. > :57:59.

:57:59. > :58:08.into the next election truly saying he is equidistant with the Tory

:58:08. > :58:11.Party. Fluent but question marks there. Labour I think, Ed Miliband

:58:11. > :58:14.railzed an answer to some of -- raised an answer to some of the

:58:14. > :58:19.questions that have been asked about him. He convinced those in

:58:19. > :58:26.the Hall that he did have what it takes to be a future Prime Minister.

:58:27. > :58:36.All right. Thank you both. Enjoy the last few moments.

:58:36. > :58:43.Multiple sources confirming the EADS-BA aerospace deal is off.

:58:43. > :58:48.Now time for Guess The Year. Press that button.

:58:48. > :58:52.Jim Carberry from Stirling. Well done. That is it. Thanks to

:58:52. > :58:58.Norman Lamont and to all of our guests. The One O'Clock News is