Ivan Lewis used his speaking slot this morning to launch a series of attacks on the attitude of many Conservatives towards international development spending. ‘Conference,’ he said. ‘It turns my stomach when I hear multi-millionaire Lord Ashcroft demanding that support for the world’s poorest should be slashed. The nasty party is back. It’s the same old Tories.’
These are the sorts of attacks that you can imagine Labour delegates going wild for. But it was difficult to really trust that Lewis actually believed what he was saying to the hall. His speech was muted, workmanlike, and the applause dutiful. He did accept that ‘we won’t be able to reverse the government’s decision to cut the projected aid budget by £1.7 billion’. But he neither defended the status quo not set out a Labour vision for international development.
He also chose to attack a straw man of a Conservative who opposes development spending full stop, rather than one concerned with transparency.
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