Theresa May delivered one of her best conference speeches. In normal times, the political boost she’d get from this would carry her through to Christmas. But these are not normal times—and Brexit will soon reassert itself. There’s a European Council in two weeks time and that will soon dominate everything else.
The speech was authentically Theresa May. She cast herself as a centre ground politician, keen on civility and motivated by the national interest. She emphasised how much of a break from the Labour tradition Jeremy Corbyn was, to try and persuade voters that a Corbyn government would be very different from a typical Labour government. On Brexit, she said little new—don’t read too much into her not using the word Chequers as what she was talking about was Chequers, Number 10 just know that this label is no longer helpful with a Tory audience. She’ll be cheered by the fact the hall accepted her argument that if they didn’t back her Brexit, they’d risk no Brexit.
Perhaps, the most important political element of the speech was May declaring the ‘end of austerity’. This is further evidence that she wants to carry on as Prime Minister after Brexit. But ending austerity won’t be easy. The £20 billion for the NHS means that the Tories have already committed to significant extra spending. Finding money for above inflation increases in other areas will not be easy. Prisons, the military and local government all have strong cases for more money. Then remember that Hammond has already said that the country will have to pay a ‘little more’ tax to cover the additional NHS spending—and you can see the political dilemma that the Tories will face.
The Tory party leaves Birmingham in better heart than it expected to this morning. But I suspect that the glow of this speech will not last as long as Number 10 would like and it’ll be back to Brexit business as usual within the next fortnight.
Comments