02/10/2013 Today at Conference

Good evening and welcome to Manchester for our highlights of the

last day of the Conservative Party conference. Clear battle lines have

been drawn between the Conservatives and Labour ahead of the general

election. David Cameron promised a land of opportunity, built on

pro-business values. Profit, he said, was not a dirty word. The land

of despair was Labour, but the land of hope is Tory. So is the land of

hope Tory? We'll find out what the party faithful think. And we'll also

have the sketch writer Quentin Letts giving his assessment of the week.

David Cameron's argument was that the Conservatives should do more

than just fix the economy and clear up what he says is Labour's mess. He

says the Conservatives now should create a land of opportunity too. Is

it enough just did clear up Labour's mess and think, job done? Is it

enough to think that we fix what went wrong and that's enough? I say

no. Not for me. This isn't job done. It is job begun. I didn't come into

politics just to fix what went wrong, but to build something right.

We in this party, we don't dream of deficits and decimal points and dry

fiscal plans. Our treeps are about helping people to get on in life.

Aspiration, opportunity, these are words, these are dreams, so today,

and I want to talk about our one abiding mission. I believe it is

this great Conservative mission that as our economy starts to recover, we

build a land of opportunity in our country today.

APPLAUSE Now, I know it will be tough. People will ask, have we got

what it takes? Well, if you saw those pictures of me on the beach

this summer in Cornwall, you will if you saw those pictures of me on the

beach this summer in Cornwall, you will know one thing - I've got the

stomach for the fight. LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE In his speech last week, Ed Miliband promised that he would

never be photographed with his shirt off in public. Public. And Ed, after

hearing that speech, here's the deal. You keep your shirt on, I'll

keep the lights on. APPLAUSE

Our economy may be turning the corner, and of course that's great.

But we haven't finished paying for Labour's debt crisis. If anyone

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

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

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

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

need to earn more and, yes, our Government still needs to spend

less. I see that Labour have stopped talking about the debt crisis, and

now they talk about the cost of living crisis. As if one wasn't

directly related to the other. And if you want to know what happens if

you don't deal with the debt crisis, and how it affects the cost of

living, just go and ask the Greeks. To abandon deficit reduction now

would throw away all the progress that we've made. It would put us

back to square one. And unbelievably, that is what Labour

now want to do. How did they get us into this mess? Too much spending,

too much borrowing, too much debt. And what did they propose last week?

More spending, more borrowing, more debt. They have learnt nothing.

Literally nothing from the crisis they created. But finishing the job

is about more than clearing up the mess we were left. It means building

something better in its place. In place of the casino economy, one

where people who work hard can really get on. In place of the

welfare society, one where no individual is written off. And in

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

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

schools, all reform, all rebuilt with one aim, one msociety, welfare,

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

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

of opportunity for all. For all. Last week Labour mounted a strong

attack on big energy companies and made the allegation that they are

ripping customers off. Hopes perhaps to trap the Conservatives into a

position where they are defending big business. Today David Cameron

took that challenge head on and in his speech he mounted a strong

defence of business. Profit, he said, was not a dirty word. We know

that profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise. These are not

dirty elitest words. They are not the problem. They really are the

solution. It is not Government that creates jobs. It is businesses that

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

families, and yes, success for our country. There is no short cut. Cut.

APPLAUSE A land of opportunity must start in our economy. The chance to

get a decent job, to start a business, to own a home. And at the

end of it all more money in your pocket. To get decent jobs for

people you've got to recognise some fundamental economic facts. We are

in a global race today. No-one owes us a living. Last week our ambition

to compete in this global race wasarily dismissed as a race to the

bottom, that it means competing with China on sweat shons and India on

low wages. No, those countries are becoming our committees and we've

got to compete with California an innovation, Germany on high-end

manufacturing, Asia in finance and technology. Here's something else

you need to recognise about this race. The plain fact is this. All

those global companies that employ lots of people, they can set up

anywhere in the world. They can go to Silicon Valley, they can go to

Berlin and yes they can come here to Manchester. These companies base

their decisions on some simple things. Like the tax rates you pay

in each country. So if those taxes are higher here than elsewhere, they

don't come here. And if they don't come here, we don't get those jobs.

Due get that, Labour? British people don't get those jobs. Last week

Labour proposed to put up corporation tax on our biggest and

most successful employers. That is just about the most damaging

nonsensical twisted economic policy you could possibly come up with and

we will fight it every step of the way.

APPLAUSE Look, I know bashing business might play to a Labour

audience, but but it is crazy for our country.

APPLAUSE. So if Labour's plan for jobs is to

attack business, ours is to back business. Regulation down, taxes cut

for businesses large and small, a new industrial policy that looks to

the future, the green jobs, aerospace jobs, life Sky News jobs.

We've made a good start. 1.4 million new private sector jobs created

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

that is 1. 4 million reasons to new private sector jobs created

finish the job we've started. There are still over 1 million young

people not in education, employment or training. And today it is still

possible to leave school, to sign on, to find a flat, start claiming

housing benefit and opt for a life on benefits. Isn't it time for bold

action here? We should ask as we write our next manifesto, if that

option should really exist at all. Instead we should give young people

a clear and positive choice. Go to school, go to a Clennell, do an

apprenticeship, get a job, but just choose the dole, we've got to offer

them something better than that. APPLAUSE

And let no-one paint ideas like this as callous. Think about it. With

your own children, would you dream of just leaving them to their own

devices, not getting a job, d you dream of just leaving them to their

own devices, not getting a job, not training - nothing? No. You would

nag, push and guide and do anything to get them on their way and so must

we. This is what we want ide and do anything to get them on their way

and so must we. This is what we want to see - everyone under 25 earning

or learning. APPLAUSE David Cameron's message to

his party was, don't campaign for another coalition. But for a

majority Conservative Government. And his message to the country was,

give the Conservatives another chance to finish the job. So So we

have done some big things to transform our country, but we need

to finish the job we've started. We need to go further, to do more for

hard-working people. To give more children a chance, back more

businesses, help create more jobs. I'm clear about how that job will

best get done. It requires a strong Government with a clear mandate that

is accountable for what it promises, and yes, what it delivers. I want to

tell everyone here what that means. When that election comes, we won't

be campaigning for a coalition. We'll be fighting head, heart and

soul for a majority Conservative Government, because that is what our

country needs. APPLAUSE

You know there are some strange moments in this job. When I was just

a few months in, a member of my staff rushed into the en I was just

a few months in, a member of my staff rushed into the office and

said, "Prime Minister, you have really made it, they are burning an

effigy of you on television." Actually the first time it happened

they didn't spell my name right. They don't make that mistake any

more. But you don't do this to be popular. You do it because you love

your country. I do the best I can. And for me it comes back to some

simple things. Country first. Do what's decent. Think long term.

Margaret Thatcher once said, we are in the business of planting trees

for our children and grandchildren. All we have no business being in

politics at all. That is what we are doing today. Not just making do and

mending, but making something better. Since I got to my feet

almost 100 children have been born across our country. Children of

wealth and children of none. Children of parents in work and

children of parents out of work. For every single one of those newborn

babies let us pledge today that we will build something better. A land

of opportunity. A country built on that enduring principle, seared in

our hearts, that if you work hard, save, play by the rules and do your

fair share, than nothing, nothing should stand in your way. A new

economy, a new welfare system, a new set after value in this our schools,

not just fixing the mess we inherited but building something

better. We've got a year-and-a-half until that election. A

year-and-a-half until Britain 've got a year-and-a-half until that

election. A year-and-a-half until Britain makes a choice - move

forward to something better or go back to something worse. But I

believe if this party fights with all we have, then this country will

make the right choice. Because we always have before. Whenever we've

had the choice of giving in to some shabby compromise or pushing forward

to something better, we've said this is Great Britain, the improbable

hero of history. The country that didn't give in, that doesn't give

up, that knows there is no such thing as destiny, only our drm

nation to succeed. I look forward to our future and I'm confident. There

are battles to fight but beyond this hall are the millions of hard

working people who renew the great in Great Britain every day. In the

way they work, in the way they give, in the way they raise their

families. These are the people we have alongside us. Together we've

made it this far. Together we will finish the job we've started, and

together we will build that land of opportunity.

APPLAUSE David Cameron speaking there. What

did the matter members make of it. We sent Adam Fleming to find out. I

thought he did fantastically well. He did a clear dividing dividing

line between him and the Labour. I was struck that a lot of it was a

response to Ed Miliband. Does that mean that Ed Miliband is the one

that's setting the terms of the debate? Not necessarily but Ed

Miliband gave an assured good performance. He identified some key

issues. For David Cameron to ignore the cost of living crisis I think

would have been a followly. There was a lot of other stuff defined for

the crass, patriotic headmasterish and that was the right thing to do

in this case. Francis Maude having a celebratory cup of tea. We'll leave

you to it. I think as a young person, I'm 2 #2sh8tion I loved the

policy it is coming out for people my age. Buying houses, education,

they are so important. It is only our party, my party, that's showing

a positive and inclusive vision for Britain. Anything missing from the

speech for you guys? No, I think the Prime Minister covered everything

that we needed to hear. And gave us clear dividing line where we are the

party of opportunity and the party of the future and the party for the

whole of Britain here in Manchester, as opposed to Labour, which is the

party of the few. We've got a retro tea room. What did you think of the

speech, Sir? Brilliant. He said everything that we all need to know.

Just remind you what our roots are, and we are for opportunity for

everybody. When are we going to be living in this land of opportunity?

We've started. Started. We've a long way to go. David Cameron said that

and he is right. We are only three-and-a-half years into the

Government. To listen to some people you would think we've been there a

long time. We are putting right what Labour did wrong. It is taking tile

to get it right but we are getting it right. Opportunities are starting

to come. We heard from young people this morning. And land of hope is

Tory? Absolutely. It's the only part of hope. Thank you. There is ca cake

in the shame of a Union Jack over there.

Adam Fleming. Shortly after the speech Andrew Neil spoke to the

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, a man who today the Prime Minister

described as being a mixture between Mr Chips and the Duracell bunny.

Andrew began by asking him, if there was anything new in his speech. He

told us there was a straightforward choice at the next election between

going backwards to the 1970s or embracing the future. For most of us

that was probably clear before hand but what we saw was an articulation

of just what an Conservative-majority Government can

achieve, which made me anticipate success in 18 months' time with

renewed relish for the fight. What David laid out was a programme which

will revitalise our nation and make sure that we can become a land of

opportunity. A country which can have the world's best education

system, a country that can have the world's most productive and

innovative economy. We think we knew that's what he wanted already. It

was news-free, policy-free conference speech. Do you think

these things will catch on? Well, the whole point abo conference

speeches they are not there to please journalists. They are there

to make an argument. The argument that the Prime Minister made is the

argument that the country's going to have to wrestle with over the next

18 month. It is straightforwardly, forward or back. I think for a lot

of people who had the chance to hear what the Prime Minister had to say,

they are not like lobby journalists checking off on a list every new

policy and wondering whether it can be a page leap. No, what people are

listening to is a Prime Minister articulating with clarit force,

authority and passion the course this country needs to take in the

future. There were things in the speech some people might not have

appreciated. For example we are changing the curriculum in our

schools to make sure that every child can learn to coephmentd I'm

sure it's the case that people don't appreciate the extent that there is

a manufacturing revival going on in this country. And people don't

appreciate how much this Government is doing, for example, to help those

on the front line of nment is doing, for example, to help those on the

front line of public service - for example, to help those on the

social workers. I suspect you probably didn't know before today

that it is this Government that sin vesting in attracting the very best

graduates into social work in an innovative scheme called Front Line,

which deserves the support of all of us. I'm rather worried that it is

reported here you that attended a spa in Austria in which you had two

mobile phones taken away, your laptop taken away, breakfast was

sheep's yoghurt and avocado, dinner was soup and stale bread and you

came back with a pair of lederhosen-style trunks. Say it is

not true. Not all of it is true. That's what your wife reported? No,

the papers reported that I lost two. I have only lost one. As the Prime

Minister said, we've got to finish the job. Should the Daily Mail

apologise to Ed Miliband for saying his father hated Britain and

described Ralph Miliband's legacy as evil? No, newspapers shouldn't

apologise to politicians for being robust. We need a free press, a

press that's sometimes robust and raucous and by definition will

sometimes offend. Unless you have a free press you into due not have an

effective check on the arrogance of politicians. I don't think

politicians should tell newspaper editors how to do their job. I think

that newspaper editors are effectively doing their job when

they upset us. And you are not influenced in that view by the fact

that your wife makes a large salary out of writing a column for the

Daily Mail? My wife influences me in many, many areas but my views about

the media are on the record. I had the opportunity to appear in front

of Lord Justice Leveson. I explained to him why I believed in a free

press. I will make that case whenever I have the opportunity to

do so, because I think that it is a very precious freedom. I think that

it is a bad thing if politicians try to cajole or coerce or try to

influence editors. What we should do is make our argument to the people

to the public and we should ensure that a free press has a right to be

vigorous, raucous and yes, of course at times upsetting. But that's the

price we pay for liberty. Michael Gove talking to Andrew Neil. Before

the Prime Minister spoke it was the chance of the Northern Ireland

Secretary to address conference. She said that sectarian division and

violence in Northern Ireland was threat technology economy there. It

is hard to see how Northern Ireland can reach its full economic

potential while sectarian division continue to spill out on the streets

with disgraceful scenes of rioting and violence. And let me be clear on

this. The idea that British identity and culture can be defended by

people who wrap themselves in the Union Flag and attack police

officers with bricks and blast bombs and ceremonial swords is grotesque.

APPLAUSE We in this party have always stood

foursquare for the rule of law and we condemn all those who seek to

attack and undermine it. Whether that attack comes from rioters who

call themselves loyalists or from lethal dissident Republicans who

continue to plot murder and mayhem. We stand fully wine the Police

Service of Northern Ireland. A number of issues that have

contributed to the difficulties we have seen over recent months, like

flags, emblems, parades and the past, are now being examined by an

all party group set up by the Northern Ireland Executive and

chaired by the very distinguished diplomat Richard Haas. I very much

welcome this and I have discussed the issues at length both with Dr

Haa, is and with all Northern Ireland's political parties. But it

is right that Northern Ireland's politicians take ownership of these

issues if we are to develop lasting solutions. I don't underestimate the

difficulty of the task ahead. And the decisions needed for real

progress may well be painful ones. But those who are prepared to make

them will be displaying real leadership, especially for those in

Northern Ireland who just want to get on with building a better

future. Ahead of next year's independence referendum in Scotland,

today the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, also

addressed the party and she made a strong defence of the union. We are

unself-conscious in a love of our country. We've worked and strived

for generations to build a Britain that we can be proud of. In the good

times, we've shared our prosperity and our expertise. And in darker

days we have stood shoulder to shoulder with our allies and with

each other. The union is in our DNA. APPLAUSE Every one in the UK,

everyone benefits from our borderless union. Scotland exports

more to the rest of the UK than it does to the rest of the WorldCom

behinded. In return, we buy back too. In fact we import more than

twice as many goods by value from the rest of Britain than the rest of

the globe. Tens of billions of pounds of hundreds of thousands of

jobs rely on our shared markets and cross-border flow. As a nation we

know that we are greater than the cross-border flow. As a nation we

sum of our parts. I think that Scotland's First Minister has

started to cotton on to that recognition. His new tack is the

last refuge of every shameless populist in history staring down the

barrel of defeat. It is to promise things for free. Under his

independence you tonia, Alex Salmond things for free. Under his

independence you tonia, Alex Salmond promises -- Utopia Alex Salmond

promises to increase overseas aid, promises -- Utopia Alex Salmond

to underwrite, to subs dice more wind farms and to renationalise the

Royal Mail. By polling day I'm expecting free beer for every voter.

APPLAUSE I know that many of you living in other parts of the UK

won't have a vote, but we all have a living in other parts of the UK

stake in the result and we can all play a part in securing our country

for the future. When Quebec went to the polls to zwlaoid to leave Canada

in 1995 the result was exceptionally close. Single fact credited with

making the difference between staying and going, between united a

country or dividing a nation was that the rest of Canada said, we

want you to stay. The newspaper sketch writer Quentin Letts has been

following event for us this week. I should warn you there is some flash

photography and one or two jokes. You've got the big blue banners

sorted, all those political plates of nibbles, invitations have been

sent out and then someone has to go and spoil it. Ladies and gentlemen

I'm talking about gate careers. All these attention-seeking individuals

trying to barge their way into David and journal's party. And they didn't

even have the decency to bring a bottle of Blue Nu Culprit number

one, UKIP leader Nigel Farage, never one to miss out on a party.

Whispering breathy words into the hairy ears of the Euro-sceptic

Whispering breathy words into the Bruges group. Said uctive little

words like election pacts. Positively indecent. You are causing

mischief aren't new No, I'm here to have a proper debate. You are

teasing the Conservative Party. Gate-crasher number two, Alastair

Campbell. He barged into the conference to campaign on alcohol

awareness and bait a few Tories. Not even the Elvis impersonator was

safe. Still, they could rely on the old foot soldiers couldn't they?

That doesn't seem to be the case when Defence Secretary Philip

Hammond received a full frontal assault from a couple of an

constituent Fusiliers, both party members, who took exception to their

regiment being disbanded in the defence cuts. We are fortunate

indeed to have the best armed forces in the world with the finest and the

bravest men and women serving in them. They are serving is suss now

as they always serve us around the clock. Would you like to sit down? I

will come and talk to you happily later on. Let me complete my speech.

This conference has been a bit more serious and for want of a better

word, Thatcherite. It is a bit like being at a gathering of accountants

and actuaries. Some of the conference gags have been like that

too. David and Ed Miliband, the greatest sibling rivalry since the

Bible. Cane and not very able. As the official signed off the last of

the paperwork, Abu Qatada looked at him and asked, is crazy mayflying

with me? I admit I was crazy. Crazy with the European Court of Human

Rights. When it comes to stealing the limelight there is only one man

with the necessary show business sparkle. It could only be one man,

Boris Johnson. We welcome all sorts of wonderful luminaries to City

Hall. Lots of them say, welcome the former French Prime Minister, Mr

Alain Juppe. He told me he was now the Mayor of Bordeaux. He may have

been the Mayor of Bordeaux when he was Prime Minister in France, a very

good idea in my view. LAUGHTER What he said... Joke! How

to sum up the week? I could tell you about the Margaret Thatcher ironing

board covers that had to be taken off the shelves because they weren't

heat resistant. I could tell you about David Cameron and his bread

making machine. Die tell you about these Teddy bears from the

Conservative disability group. But this week has been about money,

money, money. That's how they are going to play the next few months.

So lads, looks like you are going to have to go out to work. Sorry about

that. That's it for tonight. And for another year for Today at

Conference. The party conference season is now well and truly over.

Battle lines for the next general election are beginning to be drawn

up. Liberal Democrats say they want a strong economy and a fair society.

The Labour Party say they want to help people with the cost of living.

And the Conservatives say they want not just to fix the economy but also

create what they call a land of opportunity. The Daily Politics will

be back tomorrow at midday. For now, from me, for another year.

Goodnight.