01/10/2013 Today at Conference

Good evening, and welcome to our highlights of today's play here at

the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. Today, we learned that

David Cameron doesn't know the price of a loaf of bread because he bakes

his own. Boris Johnson doesn't know the price of a pint of milk - but he

doesn't milk his own. With so much in common, could Boris follow in

David's footsteps? At last, a reasonably well delivered

conference gag - at least they liked it. And he told me that he was now

the mayor of Bordeaux. I think he may have been the mayor when he was

the Prime Minister of France. Joke! Joke!

Also, today, Iain Duncan Smith says unemployed

Today, it was different for Boris Johnson, and all because - back to

parliament with open arms. Now, clearly, Boris Johnson is an

electoral asset that David Cameron doesn't want to waste. Many wondered

if the Prime Minister is up to something. Would you like to see

Boris back at the next election? I love Boris. Would you like him to

come back? He's got a huge contribution to make. He will get a

warm welcome from me. In his speech, the Mayor of London

cracked some jokes and won the familiar adulation that is due a

traditional conference darling. There were no fireworks. He was very

loyal, and some observers were a little underwhelmed. What of his

future? Not so long ago, my friends, we welcome all sorts of wonderful

resume entries to City Hall, but not so long ago, I welcomed the former

French Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe. He cruised in hadcomed

He didn't pull his punches. It is the British - this is what he said,

not me, don't throw things at me. It is the British kids particularly, he

said, "I've never seen anything so wet behind the ears." Now, I can see

looks of apoplectic - well, no, I can't, really!

I can see looks of sort of sad acknowledgement. That's what I can

see. We've got the London murder rate

down to levels not seen since the 1960s, and you're not only 20 times

more likely to be murdered in Rio as you are in London, four times more

likely to be murdered in New York, you're twice as likely to be

murdered in Brussels, in sleepy old Brussels, as you are enquire London!

APPLAUSE Presumably, with lobster picks!

Anybody here from Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire? Well

done, Prime Minister! LAUGHTER Congratulations.

You belong to the third most competitive region in Europe. Well

done. Why are those regions so fizzing with competitiveness

according to the EU commission? Because London is the most

competitive city in the whole of Europe, and it drives jobs across

competitive city in the whole of the UK and not just in the

south-east. We had a beautiful hop on, hop off

Routemaster bus. It is built in Ballymena, restoring to our city the

facility that was so wrongly taken away by the health and safety fiend.

The flooring comes from Liskard in Cornwall. Yesterday, I was at a

factory in Middleton in Greater Manchester where they're making the

destination blinds with a beautiful 2,000-year-old Southern Electric

screening technique. Manchester tells London where to go or get off,

or some such! The Conservatives are determined to

try and make savings to the welfare budget by getting more people back

into work. Yesterday, the Chancellor, George Osborne,

announced a new ellor, George Osborne, announced a new scheme

called "help to work" specifically for the long-term unemployed.

Today, the work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith,

announced reformed to an existing scheme, the programme where

Claimants would go back to the classroom in job centres, nine to

five, for six months. Our plan is simple: to put work at the heart of

the welfare system and ensure always that work always pays.

That is returning fairness to the system. Let's look at the work

programme. We've introduced this, which now helps the long-term

unemployed into It is revolutionary methods. The

providers who do this only get paid when they actually achieve results

providers who do this only get paid of getting people into work.

Results which speak for themselves. Twice as successful as Labour's

Flexible New Deal. Almost three-quarters of the work

programme's first participants have now come off benefits, and 380,000

people on that programme have returned to work.

On Monday, you heard the Chancellor announcing the help-to-work

programme for the very long-term unemployed, those coming off the

work programme. Today, I want to tell you about

those already showing early signs of noting able to commit to their

obligations to work. Prior to the work programme, we're

going to pilot a mandatory attendance centre where selected

individuals will receive expert support and supervision while they

search and apply for jobs. That is from nine o'clock to five o'clock, ,

35 hours a week, for up to six months, simulating the working day.

These pilots will be targeted at Claimants who will benefit from the

intense support one pilot before the work programme, and one after the

work programme. Alongside what we've already done with the mandatory work

programme and our tougher sanctions regime, conference, this marks the

end of the something-for-nothing culture.

After his speech, Iain Duncan Smith spoke to Andrew Neil on the Daley

Politics programme and he was asked why the Chancellor had make the big

announcement and not him? We agreed that we would divide up the two

announcements, so he had the announcement about the post-work

programme and I am dealing the stuff that is prior to the work programme.

In fact, together they make a complete package. He got the bigger

one, didn't he? No, actually, I think the big one frankly is about

us targeting people who are looking like they're not able to get

themselves ready for work, struggling. Before they even get to

the work programme, and that is actually quite radical, and quite

revolutionary because we're now asking Job Centre staff, who have

asked for this power, to start really looking and profiling the

people that are in front of them so they spend more time with the people

that need the help to get them ready and to target them, and to make sure

that in the course of that they're not doing something else. That is

critical to making both what the Chancellor announced and what the

work programme does even more successful. As you know better than

most it's restirred these stories that there is some bad blood between

you and the Chancellor going back to this coalition. What do you make of

this claim, it seems incredible to me, from the new book, that the

Chancellor regards Chancellor regards you as "thick"? Well, I

heard and saw him the last couple of days saying it is completely untrue,

but, honestly, I've been in the business of politics long enough,

had enough insults thrown at me, the Chancellor and I will good friends,

and I don't believe he said this. If anybody believes that sort of thing,

that's fine. Mrs Thatcher was told she wasn't intelligent enough to run

the country, and so was Winston Churchill. I want determination and

drive, we've got a job to do, I will let others debate levels of

intelligence. You're are putting lot of emphasis for people to sign up,

go to job centres, stay at the job centres, is that because you think

that a lot of people on welfare benefits are

And be a good member of a community, who he is willing to put into the

community as well ascertain out of. I look forward to seeing the same

progress with my second son who started this September.

For me coming here today isn't abouting a Labour or a Conservative

voter, it is about thanking you to give me the opportunity and the

choice for my child to have a happy and safe environment and with the

best education to suit him. Thank you.

After all that, finally, it was the turn of the Education Secretary,

Michael Gove himself. Ladies and gentlemen, can we please

show how grateful we are to the nation's educators for the wonderful

job they do, teachers everywhere. Thank you.

But there is one group of people whom I can't thank today. They're

the people who are standing in the way of progress; they're the people

who are the enemies of promise. While we gather here today, indeed,

while students are still at school, the leaders of the militant teaching

unions have called a strike. The reason that they've gone out on

strike in a new example of twisted militant logic is that they want to

stop good teachersing paid more money. They are striking against the

performance-related pay that we've seen has liberated the potential of

poor children. When I challenged one of those union leaders on the radio

the other day, he said that I should not worry because his union was

implementing child-friendly industrial action.

It's one of the great contradictions in terms of our time, like

self-effacing Simon Cowell. Or moving apology from Ed Balls. The

truth is there is nothing child-friendly about industrial

action. Children lose a day of education; parents have to scrabble

to pay more for expensive childcare, action. Children

My mind flashed back to when Ronald Reagan was shot and wheeled into the

operating theatre. He looked up at the Surgeon General and said, "I

hope you're all Republicans." After what happened to Philip Hammond, I

am inclined to say I hope you're all Conservatives. I go out on to the

front line most weeks Today, I can announce a major reform

that will stop Labour or any government ever trying to cover up

poor care. We will legislate to give the CQC

statutory independence rather like the Bank of England does over

interest rates so ministers can never again lean on it to suppress

bad news. We need to recover the ideal of

family doctors, making GPs more accessible for people at work as the

day's announcement about piloting eight to 87-day opening will do, but

also giving GPs the time and space So, from next April, we will be

reversing that mistake by introducing a named GP responsible

for pro-active care for all vulnerable older people. In his

speech yesterday, the Chancellor spoke in favour of the High Speed

two rail project. He said it would bring more jobs and prosperity. What

do party members think? We asked Adam Fleming to find out.

We're going to ask Conservative activists about HS2. Would they

construct or cancel. When we activists about HS2. Would they

this at Labour last week, it was 50-50, and the box fell over and the

balls fell out. Build for the future, definitely.

Is it definitely going to happen? I think it probably will happen. I

don't want it, but I think we need it.

It's only going to benefit the small minority of people, such disruption,

it's not going to happen for 20 or 30 years. We need that money

ploughing into the economy now. As a former transport adviser to the

Mayor of London, are you pro it? I am a constructor. What difference

will it make to the country? It will make a huge difference because we

have to pass constraints. We need to link up our cities better. Is

Can't possibly do that. Cancel it. I don't trust government big projects,

like Concorde. Would you like to do a daily

politics survey? You can have two balls fortwo brains.

I am surprised you've got more on that side than that side? It's early

days yet. It will go through some great

landscapes. There is no interim stop. It is a huge amount to be

spending in other infrastructures in the areas that are lacking. So

cancel. Not so much making journeys quicker, it is making the capacity

double. There we go, an absolute massive

majority in favour of construction. A lot of people were inspired by

George Osborne's pep talk on the subject.

It was also the turn of the communities secretary, Eric Pickles

to get to his feet today. He is a man who does know the price of a

pint of milk, unlike Boris Johnson. Today, he promised to make it easier

for people to park their cars near their local shops so they could go

in to buy their milk. Nine million parking fines are now issued every

year. Shoppers drive to out-of-town super stores, just shop online

rather than face the high street. So, we will make it easier for

hard-working people to pop into their local shop to buy a newspaper

or a pint of milk. We will empower local residents to

challenge the excessive yellow lines and the unreasonable fines.

We will switch o parking cash cameras and the spy cars. We are

helping families with the cost of living and supporting local shops.

Like Labour, the EU doesn't care about wasting taxpayers' money.

But this government has led from the front on the war on waste.

My If productivity in the public sector

had risen by the same amount, Britain's budget deficit could have

been half what it was when we came into office.

During that time, for some of that time, Ed Miliband had my job in the

Cabinet Office. Did he do any of time, Ed Miliband had my job in the

this? Well, if you can bear it, have a look at Damien McBride's book.

That's the real Ed Miliband and the real picture. By the end of this

parliament, we want to be saving around £20 billion a year, with

anotherfive billion the year after the election. To do more for less,

we have to transform the way services are designed and delivered.

We need the 21st century Civil Service that's capable of delivering

21st century services. Last year, I published a reform plan which set

out how the driven by that public service ethos

that is so important. That is it for tonight here in Manchester as the

Conservative Party members pack the bars here in eager anticipation of

their leader's speech tomorrow. Tomorrow, there is only one show in

Manchester, and that is David Cameron's big speech.

The Daley Politics conference special will be on at 10.30 on BBC

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