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Wednesday, 1st October 2008

Cameron's speech: live blog

Peter Hoskin 2:03pm

1405, Peter Hoskin: Welcome to the Coffee House team's live blog of David Cameron's conference speech.  Just keep refreshing to get the latest. 

The Tory leader's not expected on stage until around 1430, but preview snippets of his speech suggest that the headline message will be: "Britain needs change, not experience".  In the meantime, here's one for you to ponder: was Tony Blair as good a PM as Winston Churchill?  That's certainly what Mrs Blair seems to think... 

1412, PH: Make that 1452 for Cameron's ETA.

1420, James Forsyth: Cameron’s mission today is to show the public that he—not Gordon Brown—is the leader Britain need in these tough times. He must demonstrate that he understands what has caused the financial crisis and that he knows how to deal with the consequences. Without sounding shrill or excessively partisan, he needs to make clear the economic failings of Gordon Brown.

1430, PH: The Tories must glad that they decided against cutting their conference short in response to the financial turmoil - an idea that they apparently gave a lot of consideration to.  Of course, things are almost certainly set to worsen, but the markets rallying as they did yesterday seems to have robbed the story of much of its immediacy.  The likelihood is that Cameron's speech won't be completely submerged by global events, as many Tories feared a couple of days ago.  As James has written, the Tory leader now has a golden opportunity to cast himself as the right man for these troubled times.

1437, PH: George Osborne has said that he's "absolutely delighted" with the Government's pledge to increase protection for savings.  A sign of just how (outwardly?) cooperative the Tories intend to be.  Will we hear similar effusiveness in Cameron's speech?  The current expectation is that - even if we do - it will be offset by plenty of attacks on Brown's "Age of Irresponsibility".

1445, JF: While we wait for Cameron, I can’t help but wonder what music Cameron is going to walk off to. You can get it if you really want was an inspired choice last year but would be rather out of kilter with the new, more sombre mood.

1450, JF: One little thing worth watching for is whether David Davis gets a name-check. If he doesn’t, it will be a further sign of how his resignation gamble has not paid off.

1451, JF: The Tories are parading a selection of their new candidates, Shaun Bailey just gave a feisty speech about how the Tories are the change. One wonders how many of the 2010 intake will be in the Cabinet by 2014.

1452, PH: The shadow cabinet are filtering on to the stage now.  Expect Cameron shortly.  Just a couple of videos to get through first.

1455, JF: The shadow cabinet come out onto the stage like a football team. These moments are always slightly cringe-worthy.

1457, PH: Liam Fox is introducing a video piece on the armed forces. There was some consternation about just how little the military were mentioned at the Labour conference - especially in Brown's speech. The Tories are looking to capitalise on that.

1500, Fraser Nelson: Davena Rankin’s speech is worth noting here, for a rather beautiful way she summed up what the party is about. She fought Glasgow East (where the Tories tread water) and said she may not be considered a “typical Tory” as she is a “Scottish woman, spent years in the public sector and have stood out on picket lines. But I am a true Tory because I believe the power to change society is in all of us, not with those in Whitehall”. This may sound like a cliché to Labour types, but to me it is a loaded little credo. Being a Conservative fundamentally means faith in humankind, and mistrust in political power. Trust that people will make better, more humane and more economically productive decisions than government can do on their behalf. A belief that power truly belongs with the many, not the bureaucratic few. In an era of plenty political cross-dressing, here is a real genuine dividing line between Cameron and Brown. It’s crucial to send out these messages: you may have your reservations about Cameron but this is his cause. Shifting power not just from Labour to Tory, but from the state to the people. We could hear plenty more of this.

1502, PH: Here's Cameron now.  He gets a standing ovation.  His tie, incidentally, is Tory blue.

1503, PH: Cameron kicks off with the claim that all the Tories "are singing the same tune".  Creates a contrast with Brown's with Brown's divided Government.

1503, FN: It’s a longstanding trick of political parties to delay the Leader’s Speech and force the television channels to broadcast extra stuff – fundraising appeals, if they’re really cheeky. The Tories used this device to run a sneaky video saluting the armed forces, which I thought was just superb. They had something like two sentences in Brown’s speech, for a country fighting two wars just appalling. This was a full-on Union flag, salute-the-troops video which backed right on to Cameron’s speech. So a great intro.

1504, FN: The Guardian said today that he’d have no jokes – and Nick Watt was, as ever, very well-informed. Cameron’s remarks about his party “singing the same tune” in a Symphony Hall does not qualify as a joke.

1505, JF: Then, straight into the economy. A repetition of his bi-partisan plea from yesterday but then he moves onto Brown’s mistakes: ‘We must not hold back from being critical about the decisions over the last ten years that have brought us to this point’

1506, JF:
Osborne and Hague singled out for praise—the shadow cabinet is no longer a big four but now a big three.

1507, FN: “I repeat: we will not allow what happened in America to happen here. We will work with the government in the short term to protect our economy.” And I repeat: this is nonsense. This isn’t America, we don’t have a Tory-controlled Congress. Brown has a parliamentary majority, the Tories couldn’t stop him legislating if he tried. Very well-judged posturing though, as his bipartisan “pledge” was repeated all over television yesterday.

1508, PH: Cameron's really majoring on the Armed Forces here. "I'm 100% behind our military".  Lots on how they need better equipment.  Liam Fox must be wondering whether this is the spending commitment he always seems to have been denied.

1510, JF: After some brief words on the crisis, Cameron moves onto Afghanistan. Presumably, the economy will form the second half of the speech.

Cameron then talks passionately about respect for the armed forces. He sounds convincing and it draws a clear contrast with Brown who devoted only a few lines to the forces in his conference speech.

1512, PH: "Wasn't it great to have the Georgian Prime Minister here earlier, making that speech."  Cameron's capitalising on what was quite a coup.

"For me the most important word is 'reponsibility'".  Trying to draw a direct contrast with the "Age of Irresponsiblity".  Cameron hasn't actually mentioned Brown yet, but he's already got several effective digs in.

1513, FN: “I want to thank George Osborne, William Hague and all my team in the Shadow Cabinet”. Strange to hear him single out these two but it reflects what he’s been saying in private for for some months now . He seems keen to present a troika, hence his wee photoshoot yesterday. Osborne, yes, but the public hears very little from Hague. This will have to change if Cameron really wants to present him as being one of the two backups. He has Osborne and Hague sitting on either side behind him, laying on the requisite array of facial expressions for the benefit of the cameras. Plus I still haven’t heard anything to suggest the real power not the a quartet: Hilton, Cameron, Osborne, Coulson.

 
Long passage on troops’ and welfare. Cameron also salutes the Gurkhas, gets round applause. For some reason, the Birmingham International Conference Centre hired off-duty Gurkhas as security guards, wearinh their military soft hats. Kinda surreal being frisked by them.

1516, PH: Cameron lays down the gauntlet to Alex Salmond: "I don't want to be the Prime Minister of England, I want to be Prime Minister of the United Kingdom."

1518, FN: “Many people wrongly believe the Conservative party is only about freedom” and goes on to define libertarian as being able to do what you want regardless of the effects on others. Oh dear. There’s a book called the Libertarian Reader which I hope someone sends him for Christmas. Even more depressing ‘Social Responsibility” my least favourite Tory theme, makes a comeback. Every time he tries to bring this theme to life he just baffles the audience.

1518, JF: One can pick all sorts of holes in Cameron’s statement about his personal beliefs but this is politically powerful stuff. He looks and sounds convincing. People tuning into him properly for the first time, are going to be mighty impressed. The contrasts with Brown are stronger for being implicit not explicit.

1519, PH: Cameron's getting into the "change, not experience" theme now.  Great line about how Callaghan may have had plenty of experience by 1979, but "thank God we got rid of him, and got Margaret Thatcher instead."  No direct mention of Brown yet, but plenty of sly analogies pointed in his direction.

1520, JF: One can pick all sorts of holes in Cameron’s statement about his personal beliefs but this is politically powerful stuff. He looks and sounds convincing. People tuning into him properly for the first time, are going to be mighty impressed. The contrasts with Brown are stronger for being implicit not explicit.

1520, FN: Good bit of coded Brown bashing “not making a decision because you’re afraid of the consequences is bad”…. “go with your conviction, not your calculation”. The popular thing “might look good for a while, but the right thing is always right”. And credit to Cameron: standing up for the union and capitalism are principled, vote-losing positions. I believe he is quite sincere here.

1523, JF: An Obama-like framing of how the real risk is more of the same not change, as Obama has demonstrated this works politically.

1524, JF: A bit of wholly justified banker bashing and then onto Brown’s big mistakes—removing the Bank of England’s regulatory role and excessive public spending.

1526, PH: Cameron's delivering his clearest message yet on lowering public spending.  He'd ask his Cabinet to review every spedning programme, to see if it's necessary. "But that won't be enough," he adds, "the real savings will come from reforming the public services".

1526, FN: “Thank God we swapped [Callagan] for Margaret Thatcher.” Yes, yes yes. Great to see Cameron saluting The Lady – all part of her comeback. There’s a bar outside the conference centre called Reflex on Broad Street with pictures of Thatcher saying “remember the 80s”. That’s what I call rehab. Great bar, by the way. If anyone is in Birmingham I recommend it.

1528, FN:
A-ha. The bankers. Brown’s mistakes. “When he gave the BoE the power to set interest rates” – except he didn’t. Interest rates are set by the MPC, a team handpicked by the Treasury. Sure, they meet in the Bank of England but may as well meet in the Dog & Duck. Interest rates are set by a Treasury-selected team of outsiders. He is on shaky territory with this “restoring the Bank of England’s power to rein in debt in the economy.” His policies just tweak the capital ratios, and there is still confusion in Tory ranks about whether this is intended as a tool to control debt levels. Which would be insane. There’s only one way to control debt, and that’s interest rates.

1528, JF: Same message as Osborne, we desperately want to cut your taxes but can’t yet.

1519, FN: “That fantastic speech by George Osbrone on Monday probably the finest by a Shadow Chancellor there’s ever been”. Hang on!! Osborne was good, but hardly superlative. I wonder if this is part of a Big Up Osborne and Hague campaign… Strange.

1531, PH: Recommitting to lower corporation tax.  Reducing red-tape and complexity will create room for a 3p cut in the mainstream rate.  The message: we may be talking tough to big business, but we're going to show them some love as well.

1533, FN: “We do not believe in tax cuts financed by reckless borrowing” – and neither does anyone else, apart from Gordon Brown before by-elections. Drives me mad when Cameron and Osborne wheel out this “I am a fiscal conservative” routine and make out there’s a huge constituency of Tories wanting “unfunded tax cuts”.

1535, FN: “I believe that people create jobs, not governments”. Good to remind Brown of the point, but is this controversial?

1536, PH: Now Cameron's attacking elf'n'safety culture, as Littlejohn would put it.  Seems to get a healthy round of applause from it, too.  Could this be an underused attack on Labour, that we're about to see more of?

1537, FN: Just like Osborne, he promises to stand firm against tax cutters then promises a tax cut – this time on corporation tax. “Build a high speed rail network that links Manchester, London, Leeds – in that way we can rebalance Britain’s economy.” No, just let them cut their local tax and compete that way. As if we have enough money for this railway of his. Expect it to be dropped pretty quickly…

1537, JF: Cameron goes after David Miliband’s statement about how without the government you get left behind. This section probably seemed a lot more important to the Tories a fortnight ago.

1539, JF: Cameron does the anti-politics thing, attacking the Westminster problem. I guess, though, that Cameron having been in Westminster since leaving university has given him a good chance to study it!

1540, FN: Broken Politics – this is his Obama-esque riff which he tried in Cardiff. Good to see it making a comeback, mentioning Plasma Screens and  “the wretched John Lewis list” they all have to go.


1541, FN: Europe
, at last. Good to hear him say he’ll fight next year’s Euro elections on referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. I was talking to an MEP who fears Cameron wants to shelve Europe as an issue and fight it on a “bash brown” issue instead. If there’s not a general election then, that is…

1542, JF: Personalises the section on the NHS with the experience of one of his constituents whose wife died of MRSA. As Cameron must know having being involved in the war of Jennifer’s ear, this is always politically quite high risk.

1544, PH: There's a rich seam of public service reform running through this speech.  Cameron pledges to give patients more information on the NHS, so that they can exercise greater choice on where to get treated.  Doctors shouldn't be "accountable to Whitehall".  Shame that actual Tory health policy - which has provider interests at heart - isn't keeping up with this rhetoric.


1546, JF: If it was not for the financial crisis, Cameron’s section on the broken society would be setting the political weather. This is Cameron at his best. It showcases all of his best qualities.

1548, FN: I’ve never see Cameron do anger in a speech before, and I think that device of reading out the bureaucratic letter from Alan Johnson worked well.  “Four ways to make a complaint but not one way for Mr Woods’ wife to die with dignity – God we’ve got to change that”. You need a bit of anger.
 
1551, JF: If several recent Conservative leaders had said ‘I get the modern world’ it would have been—fairly or unfairly—met with derision. But from Cameron it rings true.

1553, FN: Just superb passage on the Broken Society “some say our society isn’t broken. I wonder what world they live in”. Amen. “Leave aside there are council estates in this country where the life expectancy is lower than the Gaza Strip….” This is true for the entire City of Glasgow.  Then he darted onto what the left regards as its territory: the number of illiterate boys in prison, Blair’s “causes of crime”. He’s on strong, comfortable ground here. I could listen to him on this for ages.

1554, JF: Michael Howard gets a name-check. No mention yet for David Davis.

1555, PH: Cameron talks about "declaring war" on all-must-have-prizes schooling, and rails against an education system which can - and did - give marks for a pupil writing 'f*** off' on an exam paper.  Much as with the elf'n'safety theme earlier, there's more than a smattering of Littlejohn-esque common sense to all this.  You can almost here Cameron ending each paragraph, with "You couldn't make it up..."

1556, JF: Cameron declares war, ‘almost literally’, on the all must have prizes culture and dumbing down. The hall goes wild. In many ways, this is the most conservative speech I’ve ever heard Cameron give.

1559, JF: A justified piece of praise for IDS for helping make the Tories the party of social justice and David Davis does get a mention.

1601, FN: A “declaration of war” on the enemies of reform in teaching! At least he knows what he’s up against, because it will be a war. Great to hear him explicitly link social mobility to “radical school reform” and David Davis (there’s your name-cheCk, James) quoted calling them the “victims of state failure.” He’s wonderfully unapologetic about the ‘broken society’.

1604, PH: Boris gets a name-check, and a big cheer.

1605, JF: The length of the speech, it is pushing an hour now, suggests that the remarks on the economic crisis have been bolted on to a toned-down version of the original speech.

1605, FN: Oh this is great. “Progressive ends, Conservative means” is a revolution, he’s right. Building up to a great peroration, methinks...

1606, JF: Listening to the activists clap Boris, one wonders if a mention of his name will at some point produce a Mo Mowlam moment.

1606, PH: And that's it - Cameron ends with a prediction of a "better future".  Expect the Coffee House team's overall responses shortly.

1606, FN: What a signoff. “Leadership, character, judgement – that is what the country needs at a time like this and that is what the modern Conservative Party offers” Then Declaring his “faith in human nature” he saluted “our remarable capacity to innovate, to overcome obstacles… we can and will come through, we always do, not because of the government but the people of Britain. Together in the hope, in the belief, in the knowledge that better times will lie ahead.” Superb.

Overall

James Forsyth: Cameron’s rebuttal of Brown’s experience argument was strong and the personal touches showed what an able politician he is. But I think that Cameron missed a chance to show that the public that he really is in command of the economic issues.

Peter Hoskin: There's much to be admired in the "direction of travel" that Cameron's just set out - especially with regards to public service reform.  But the scattershot approach of the speech mean that nothing ever quite got beyond that "direction of travel" stage - there were no specifics, and no substantive explication of why and how the Tories would manage the economy better.  For that reason, it's got to be chalked up as a missed opportunity.

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Comments Post comment

Seasurfer1

October 1st, 2008 2:22pm Report this comment

Churchill saved us from the Nazis and presided over the loss of the Empire. Blair presided over the destruction of ourselves (what Dave terms Society) and the breakup of our Union and the Constitution.
Regret, Blair is only a great Delusionist.

James

October 1st, 2008 2:37pm Report this comment

Blair remained true to one party all his political life and never lost an election. I'll give the edge to Blair

maas101

October 1st, 2008 2:39pm Report this comment

Sales of her biography slipping? I can't think of any other reason for her to come up with such an attention seeking and meaningless assertion as that.

Mad as a box of frogs.

Fraser

October 1st, 2008 2:41pm Report this comment

I know who was a better first lady and she wasn't a self interested pillar box.

Adam

October 1st, 2008 2:48pm Report this comment

Prince - Sign of the Times

alastair

October 1st, 2008 2:56pm Report this comment

"The shadow cabinet come out onto the stage like a football team"

Jogging?

mac

October 1st, 2008 2:59pm Report this comment

"But if you ask me I do trust Tony to make the big decisions wisely - yes." So, pretty much a 'straight kind of guy', then; how so many of us have misjudged him.

luke

October 1st, 2008 3:05pm Report this comment

Surely a mistake having osbourne in TV view for the whole speech?

James

October 1st, 2008 3:09pm Report this comment

Not sure it was a good idea having George Osbourne sitting behind Cameron and so in the TV frame.......

Penelope

October 1st, 2008 3:12pm Report this comment

I dont like the line that you cant prove you are ready.

Tony Blair had proved it to the country. We all thuoght cameron already had as well

James J

October 1st, 2008 3:26pm Report this comment

Novices? None of them have significant experience outside politics. Look at Brown’s sell off of our Gold; it would be comically inept if not so serious. Look at Blair’s decision to increase our contribution to the EU to £45 billion between 2007-13—just as we enter a recession and he leaves office.

james

October 1st, 2008 3:28pm Report this comment

"Go with your conviction not your calculation" - yep that's the best way to get out of our current economic crisis isn't it? Oh, my mistake, that's what got us into this mess in the first place...

Conviction is all very well for Opposition, but Government's have to make calculations.

Northern John

October 1st, 2008 3:28pm Report this comment

From the BBC live blog of the speech:

Nick Robinson "I'm struggling, to be honest" on finding the best lines and steers for tonight's evening news, having just read an advanced copy of Cameron's speech.

And this is the BBC's Political Editor?! I'd always thought he was pretty good, but only a joker would think (never mind publish) that statement.

TrevorsDen

October 1st, 2008 3:50pm Report this comment

FN -- just how do you compete from 200 miles up a clogged up M6.

You dope!

David

October 1st, 2008 4:05pm Report this comment

The BBC are going to rubbish it, but I thought that was excellent. I'm sure the busy Labour trolls with have a different view of course.

Busy Labour Troll

October 1st, 2008 4:15pm Report this comment

That seemed to me to be the start of Cameron's inevitable move to the right and appears to have been totally directed at Daily Mail readers with the emphasis he places on the military, on the broken society and on 'elf and safety. And yet it seemed very light on economic issues which are the most important issues around. I think he could have just made a massive mistake...

Sugar Free

October 1st, 2008 4:17pm Report this comment

Great speech...seemed to mention 'change' more than Obama, but Dave put more flesh on the bones. First time I have genuinely felt proud of Cameron. I have wanted to see him show the anger which the majority of the country feel every day...

Wasteminster

October 1st, 2008 4:23pm Report this comment

Northern John:

The Beeb are doing their very best to trash the tories - newsnight on monday actually made me angry. Expect a dose of "this is film-thin rubbish" rhetoric from the stalinists behind Minitruth

Dalesman

October 1st, 2008 4:28pm Report this comment

I think he nailed it!

Cameron ha just persuaded me to vote for him and his party.

TrevorsDen

October 1st, 2008 4:29pm Report this comment

"Nick Robinson "I'm struggling, to be honest" on finding the best lines and steers for tonight's evening news, "

Yes thats a news journalist for you - looking for a peg to hang his story on and if his peg is completely at odds with the content of the speech then it will be completely misreported.

Camerons voice almost broke when talking about the death of this poor mans wife. Unlike Blair and his trembling lip it seemed genuine to me. Typical of Alan Johnson to give the standard trade union response.

Joe Mooney

October 1st, 2008 4:37pm Report this comment

Excellent performance from DC. Unlike Labour last week DC spoke to the country and I liked what he had to say on the NHS.

Oscar

October 1st, 2008 4:38pm Report this comment

Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Cameron exuded maturity - and showed up Brown for the childish man he is. Cameron is so much better than any commentators convey - a bit like Shakespeare - he's so much more intelligent, has more breadth of vision, more subtlety, more wit than the paltry press pack around him. The handling of the experience issue was masterly (and very funny). And although he didn't namecheck Gordon Brown much, criticism of him was implicitly in nearly every sentence. I watched it on the DP and it was awful to hear Nick Robinson sound off straight after this magnificent speech that this was a 'back to the future' 1980s Daily Mail speech. For one moment Cameron lifted us out of all the spin and articulated matters of real concern. But then the BBC has to spoil it all.

strapworld

October 1st, 2008 4:42pm Report this comment

It was a tremendous speech. Delivery great! Content superb!

I'll ignore your intellectual arguments about a missed opportunity. Sometimes I think you people want to be bored silly just to prove a point.
THIS was a speech of a leader! a man in charge a man with vision and a man of purpose!

Brown will have been quaking in his bunker watching that!

Oscar

October 1st, 2008 4:43pm Report this comment

Busy Labour Troll - George Osborne gave an excellent speech about economic issues and Conservative policy. As you are clearly a keen student of the subject I suggest you look at that. Cameron is going to be PM and needs to address a well rounded range of issues which he did admirably - unlike onetrack obsessive Gordon.

Glenlivet Guy

October 1st, 2008 4:45pm Report this comment

Excellent and inspiring, if Simon Heffer is not now Man enough to admit he was wrong about "Dave", I will stop taking The Telegraph

David

October 1st, 2008 4:45pm Report this comment

Busy Labour Troll, at least you're honest about your intentions.

Paul B

October 1st, 2008 4:46pm Report this comment

Brilliant speech, the boy did indeed nail it. Human, serious, witty, compassionate. Loved the section about responsibility, He more is more than a child of his time, he is the man for the future.

Jed Yoong

October 1st, 2008 4:53pm Report this comment

The Spectator may have taken live blogging to a whole new level with one-minute intervals between posts....Was the speech that boring? Anyway, kudos for setting a new benchmark in live blogging...

Dirty Euro

October 1st, 2008 5:00pm Report this comment

So Cameron sleeps with entreprenuers eh so that shat they call them now. Someone should tell his wife. LOL.

louisa

October 1st, 2008 5:16pm Report this comment

thought nhs section very weak - we are against the complaints process?

But apart from that thought it was a good speech

Augustus

October 1st, 2008 5:17pm Report this comment

He put his points across methodically enough. However, there was a certain lack of raw anger. Why wasn't he hot under the collar regarding BROWN'S BLUNDERS? He could have shown him up more. Mrs T would have done!

lukeyoung

October 1st, 2008 5:19pm Report this comment

I thought it was solid. He minimised known polling weaknesses such as the NHS and the union and tries to set out ambition in areas of strength like welfare and schools.

Ian C

October 1st, 2008 5:43pm Report this comment

He ticked the main boxes and he delivered it in a sobre and sensible manner. No triumphalism or 'yah-boo' name calling. He moderated what hew ould otherwise have done very well and enabled alot of boxees to be ticked as to what the Tories under him will do - and what they stand for. "I am not an ideologue" was a good box to tick.

David Lindsay

October 1st, 2008 6:12pm Report this comment

Other regular CHers will know why I cannot for the life of me see why a Tory audience would wish its Leader to be another Thatcher.

But Cameron is not the equal even of that.

Yes, Callaghan had been Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor and Prime Minister. But Thatcher had done a full four-year Parliament as Education Secretary.

What has Cameron ever done to qualify him to be Prime Minister?

What has Cameron ever done at all?

Ben Chapman

October 1st, 2008 6:48pm Report this comment

Reitirating what the lib dems said in their conference, minus the policies. spin, trying to be popular, he's just another Tony Blair, and considering he played a major part in the fact that this country is f*cked up at the moment, i think ill say no thanks cameron, go back to whatever private school you came to as they might be interested in what he has to say. please ppl,lets not elect someone with no policies, just on the grounds that are opinions of him are higher than are opinions of Gordon Brown (which proves soooo much).

Classic conservative, pointing out the one major example of diversity in a party that is extremely elitist and not representative of the people of this country, only the middle classes.

I refuses to have improvements in the lives of ordinary people of this country something that is passed down through benefits recieved by the rich.

i say what we need is a higher minimum wage, no tax on the first 10k (saving aproximately 700 quid for all people other than those the richest), higher taxes on the top earners, no car tax except for on the most polluting cars, put that tax on petrol (as petrol usage per mile and carbon emissions are clearly linked), higher minimum wage, and a rule that makes it illegal for the top ten percent of any employees in a company to get higher than average pay rises. higher minimum wage, the nationalisation of energy companies, banks, medicine production companies and transport. tax breaks for smaller companies. a legal requirements for solar cell/panels and insulation in all new houses.

Chuck Unsworth

October 1st, 2008 7:01pm Report this comment

@ Busy Labour Troll

Have you read the Daily Mail recently?

Come to that, can you read?

Or are you a victim of state schooling?

Travis Bickle

October 1st, 2008 7:33pm Report this comment

And the challenge for today is to construct a cohesive, and halfway meaningful, sentence from the 5pm random word generated effort.

Keith

October 1st, 2008 8:23pm Report this comment

Brilliant speech but I just wish he'd trashed Brown a bit more and shown him to be the charlatan that he clearly is.

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