David Cameron, who avoided mentioning Europe
during his speech and spent a large proportion on the
environment (David Bebber/The Times)
Posted on 10/04/2006 3:31:14 PM PDT by familyop
David Cameron, who avoided mentioning Europe
during his speech and spent a large proportion on the
environment (David Bebber/The Times)
David Cameron warned Tory activists that there could be no turning back to the policies of the Thatcher era as he put safeguarding the National Health Service at the heart of his efforts to return the Tories to power at the next election.
In an hour-long speech ending his first party conference as leader, Mr Cameron also took on critics who accuse him of lacking substance or policy, using the key issue of taxation policy as an example that they were wrong.
Tax has been the main battleground of the conference as rightwingers spearheaded by Lord Tebbit, the former party chairman, argued that Mr Cameron should pledge tax cuts at the next election.
"Substance is not about producing a ten-point plan. It is about deeper things than that," Mr Cameron said. "It is about knowing what you believe, it's about a clear idea of the Britain that we all want to see."
He added: "Everyone in this hall, me included, knows that a low-tax economy is a strong economy. But some people want me to flash up some pie-in-the-sky tax cuts to show what we stand for.
"Let me tell you straight: that is not substance and that is not what we stand for. Do you know what I think? I think that when some people talk about substance, what they mean is they want the old policies back.
"Well they're not coming back. We're not going back."
It was a speech aimed well beyond those in the hall - many of whom are uneasy about the party's shift to the centre ground and Mr Cameron's brand of touchy-feely politics - and which stole shamelessly Labour's policy clothes on issues such as crime.
Presenting himself as a committed family man optimistic about the country's future, Mr Cameron also took pains to make clear that public services would not be slashed under a Conservative government.
He devoted much of his speech to the message that the National Health Service would be safe under his government, implicitly linking his personal attachment to free healthcare to the fact that he has a severely disabled son.
"The NHS is vitally important to every family in this country - and my family is no exception, it's vital to us," Mr Cameron declared.
"I believe that the creation of the NHS is one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century. It is founded on the noble but simple ideal that no person should ever have to worry about their healthcare.
"But it's about more than that. The NHS is an expression of our values as a nation. It is a symbol of collective will, of social solidarity. That is why the British people, of all political parties and none, are so proud of it and so attached to it."
He added: "For me, it's not a question of saying the NHS will be safe in my hands. Of course it will. My family is so often in the hands of the NHS and I want them to be safe there.
"Tony Blair once told us that his priorities could be summed up in three words: education, education, education. I can do mine in three letters: NHS.
"We will serve and support the National Health Service, we will always support the NHS with the funding it needs, but we will make sure that the money is well spent."
The Conservative leader told his party that he would back successful Labour initiatives, such as Bank of England independence and the minimum wage, promising to increase it if possible.
But he then rounded on Tony Blair for giving up on Cabinet government and taking decisions instead around the sofa in his office at No 10.
"No notes are taken. No one knows who's accountable. No one takes the blame when things go wrong," Mr Cameron said. "That arrogant style of government must come to an end. I will restore the proper processes of government.
"I want to be Prime Minister of this country, not a president."
Heralding proposals for new green taxes, Mr Cameron said: "I want to tell the British people some uncomfortable truths - there is a price for progress in tackling climate change.
"Of course, low-energy light bulbs, hybrid cars - even a windmill on your roof - can make a difference and also save money. But these things are not enough.
"Government must show leadership by setting the right framework: binding targets for carbon reduction year on year. That would create a price for carbon in our economy.
Perhaps the loudest applause came when the Tory leader heaped praise on British troops fighting abroad in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying: "We should do more - a lot more - for them."
On domestic security and the terrorist threat, Mr Cameron promised that he would always listen to the police and security services.
"I will never play politics with this issue - what I will do is my duty, which is to support the Government when they do the right thing and hold them to account when they do the wrong thing," he said.
"So let me say plainly, I do think that this government is getting some things wrong. They're pressing ahead with ID cards that won't stop dangerous people coming into our country when they can't give us proper border controls that just might.
"They're bringing in new offences that aren't being used but they haven't changed the law so that wire-tap evidence can be used to prosecute terror suspects in court."
Mr Cameron repeated his pledge to repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a new British Bill of Rights.
He also laid into the Prime Minister on crime, saying that his "cheap joke" at last week's Labour conference about Mr Cameron's "hug-a-hoodie" meant that he had given up on "one of the best things he ever said - that we need to be tough on the causes of crime".
"Everyone in this hall, everyone watching at home, knows that we will only tackle crime in the long term if we tackle family breakdown, if we tackle drug addiction, if we mend broken lives," he added.
On foreign policy, the Conservative leader drew on his family past, saying his grandfather had taken part in the D-Day landings and he himself had become involved in politics during the Cold War.
"But now Mr Blair objects when I say our foreign policy should not simply be unquestioning in our relationship with America.
"Well, if he's accusing me of wanting to be a British prime minister pursuing a British foreign policy, then I plead guilty.
"Questioning the approach of the US administration, trying to learn the lessons of the past five years does not make you anti-American."
Rounding off his speech with a message of optimism, he told delegates: "We must not be the party that says the world and our country is going to the dogs. We must be the party that lifts people's sights and raises their hopes.
"We are getting ready to serve again. We're standing up for what we believe. We're reaching out for what we can achieve. So let us say here today, confidently, that for Britain the best is yet to come."
FYI PING
Ping, and is this man absolutely mad?
So, what then is the difference between Labour and the Tories these days? Very little, it would seem.
Regards, Ivan
In England these guys are the Conservatives.Any less conservative and they would be establishing workers' soviets in the cities. Or is it that they must conserve the Marxist state that has developed in England?
This story would seem to prove the wisdom of your decision.
So they are going to make the same mistake as the US Republican Establishement and be Leftist lite?
I am a little tired of this lightweight Cameron continual negative tone on Thatcher. I also am nervous about the Tories on Iraq, which many of them call "Blair's War".
Regards, Ivan
Pardon my ignorance, but as I'm only familiar with Labour, the Tories, and the BNP...what is this party's platform?
According to the Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, Britain is more economically free than the United States. Take a look:
Index of Economic Freedom 2006
So: if we're Marxist, what does that make you? North Korea?
Think before you post next time.
Ivan
UKIP stands for:
The leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage, is something of a bad boy on the European circuit:
From Wikipedia
Jacques Barrot controversy
On 18 November 2004 he announced in the European Parliament that Jacques Barrot, the French Commissioner designate, had been barred from elected office in France for 2 years, after being convicted in 2000 of embezzling £2 million from government funds and diverting it into the coffers of his party. He claimed that French President Jacques Chirac had granted Barrot amnesty[1]. BBC reports claimed that under French law this made it illegal to even mention the conviction [1]; French law, however, does not have any such prohibition [2]. Farage was attacked for his comments; he claimed to have been threatened with arrest [2]. The Parliament's President, Josep Borrell, enjoined him to retract his comments under threat of "legal consequences" [3], probably alluding to the possibility of libel accusations.[3] However, the following day it was confirmed that Barrot had received an 8 month suspended jail sentence in the case, and that this had been quickly expunged by the amnesty decided by Chirac and his parliamentary majority. The Commission's president, Jose Manuel Barroso admitted that he had not known of Barrot's criminal record when appointing him as a Commission vice-president.[4] The Socialist and Liberal groups in the European Parliament then joined UKIP in demanding the sacking of Barrot for failing to disclose the conviction during his confirmation hearings. However, they did not apologize to Farage for their attacks on him in the chamber, when, to all intents and purposes, they called him a liar.
José Barroso controversy
Through the spring of 2005, Farage pressed the European Commission for information as to where the individual Commissioners spent their holidays. After some delays, the Commission formally refused to answer, citing the right of privacy of Commissioners. It was then reported in the German newspaper Die Welt that the President of the European Commission, José Barroso had spent a week on the luxury yacht of the Greek shipping billionaire Spiro Latsis. It emerged soon afterwards that this had occurred only a month before the Commission approved 10.3 million euro of Greek state aid for Latsis' shipping company. It was also revealed that British Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, had accepted a trip to Jamaica from an unrevealed source.
Farage persuaded around 75 MEPs from across the political spectrum to back a motion of no confidence in Barroso, as a way of forcing him to appear before the European Parliament to explain himself. Various MEPs came under intense pressure from their respective groups to withdraw their names from Farage's motion, but nonetheless, the motion was successfully tabled on 12 May 2005. This forced Barroso to defend himself [6] and at the subsequent censure debate on 26 May 2005 the censure motion was heavily defeated. A Conservative MEP, Roger Helmer, was summarily expelled from his group, the EPP-ED in the middle of the debate by that group's leader Hans-Gert Poettering as a result of his support for Farage's motion.
Regards, Ivan
That looks like a response to "No Turning Back" which is apparently a Thatcherite group in the party. And that's a play on Mrs. Thatcher's 'To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the "U" turn, I have only one thing to say. "You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.'
"No Going Back" is a slogan Cameron uses to strike a Thatcherite pose of resolve, even when he's opposing Thatcherism.
Just like you have RINOs, we have CINOs.
Regards, Ivan
Some of the UKIP representatives actually make it quite entertainment to follow the action in the European parliament.
Here is a video of Farage giving Barroso a dressing down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeDSQsanrc8
This one though is probably my favourite :-)
Nigel Farage on who's who in the EU commission
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWSYMpuCFaQ
Cheers.
Sad.
What a jerk!
Based on this article, you are wise to do so. Either the man is a charming lightweight...or one who lets his lack of substance cover for a more ambitious -- and pernicious -- agenda.
I don't think I like him...and it's a "character thing".
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