David Cameron set out a bold vision for social reform in his second and final term as Britain's prime minister as he sought to move the Conservatives on to the centre ground of British politics.
In his first party conference speech as the leader of a Tory majority administration, Mr Cameron shifted the focus away from the economy, which dominated the last parliament, towards tackling poverty, discrimination and deprivation. He was cheered by delegates as he promised “greater hopes, greater chances, greater security” in a speech that had very little mention of the country’s budget deficit.
Only his party could ensure “great schools”, “dignity in retirement”, greater home ownership, more generous childcare and national security, he told conference delegates in Manchester.
He attacked Jeremy Corbyn, the new leader of the Labour party, saying he was a supporter of a "security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology". Thousands of words had been written about Mr Corbyn, Mr Cameron said. "You only need to know one thing: he thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a 'tragedy'."
He praised the achievements of the last five years – when he governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats – by saying there were more people in work and more at university than ever before. There were more entrepreneurs than anywhere in Europe and wages were rising, he said.
He used the phrase “Greater Britain” a dozen times. “We are on the brink of something special,” he said.
Keep the UK together
Mr Cameron promised to keep the UK together in the wake of the stunning success of the Scottish National Party at the general election. He said he loved all parts of the country, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and would defend the union with “everything I have got”. But he warned there were still major challenges in terms of “deep social problems”, the scourge of poverty, a lack of social opportunity and the threat of extremism.
This marks a return to the original Cameron ethos of a decade ago, when he won the leadership on a platform of social compassion at odds with the Tories’ reputation.
The Tory leader has previously signalled that he will step down before the next election in 2020, prompting manoeuvrings among senior colleagues to become his successor. Yet he insisted he did have a plan for Britain for the rest of the decade.
“I believe we can make this era – these 2010s – a defining decade for our country,” he said. “The turnround decade.”
Mr Cameron used his speech to defend his approach to the European refugee crisis, saying that if Britain opened the door to every refugee the country would be “overwhelmed”.
“We haven’t just started caring about Syrians,” he said. “We have been helping them over the past four years, giving more in aid to that part of the world than any other country except America.”
He defended his attempts to renegotiate the country’s relationship with the European Union, promising to achieve better terms for membership.
And he signalled to an end to the “passive tolerance” that had led to the authorities ignoring extremism in some communities. “For too long, we have been so frightened of causing offence that we haven’t looked hard enough at what is going on in our communities,” he said.
The prime minister also criticised Labour over tax and spending, saying that the “self-righteous” opposition party had given up on any “sensible, reasonable, rational arguments” on the economy. “Who gets hurt when governments lose control of spending and interest rates go through the roof? Labour ideas don’t help the poor, they hurt the poor,” he argued. It was “selfish” to live for today and forget about tomorrow, he added.
“Let the message go out: if you work hard, want to get on, want more money at the end of the month, the party for you is right here in this hall,” he said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015