The Man with a Plan

David Cameron delivered what can only be described as an excellent speech today. I got all the Internet windows ready and the TV turned on an hour before the speech, such was the anticipation and it wasn’t in vain!

After a bit of a ‘woolly’ start, he soon settled in to what turned out to be a speech which struck the right tone. I sensed a bit of a sobre tone throughout, perhaps deliberate to reflect the current economic situation. However, the overall message was a positive one suggesting that better times are ahead for Britain.

he spoke about how the party had changed and why we needed change in the country. In my preview to the speech yesterday evening and this morning, I said that what i would like to see is a bit of Labour bashing, but more than balanced with what the Tories would do to sort the mess out. This I got. After the rather elongegated introduction in which two themes seem to become prevalent, that of change and responsibility.

After half and hour, he started to talk about policy, linking each area well and painting a picture of what a Conservative Britain would mean for individual citizens. He attacked the socialist culture of the government doing everything for you saying that the result of Labour policies is that they treat citizens like children.

He weaved stories of MRSA victims and a young couple who couldn’t jobs into his speech with great ease. The trick is an old one, but it shows that the old tricks are the best.

I still have concerns about actual policy detail in certain areas such as banking, however 24 hours on from feeling very let down, I now feel that the Conservative policies fit into a theme of responsibility.

Mr Cameron spoke for over an hour, longer than that of Gordon Brown, however what he did is combined two speeches in one. At the same time as speaking to the conference, he was speaking to the country. Brown was only speaking to the party. The tone has changed as well. Despite the rather woolly ‘plan for change’ slogan being plastered across the conference venue, his speech had much more of a conservative stance. Indeed, one of Cameron’s early champion ideas was environmentalism. In this speech, we got 45 minutes in beforte the word environment was even mentioned. I believe he now has a very good team around him and in just under 4 years, he has really matured into the role as leader.

The evening news reports have also so far been quite receptible to the speech. The BBC had it as the top story, channel four had it top story and ITV had it third. Most journalists seem to have approved of the speech which will all help in ensuring that the policies announced get a fair hearing by the British public.

What the polls will show in the coming days must not be paid attention to. Conference season polls are always a skewed view of reality because all parties experience a bounce of varying degrees during and after their conference. Later this week we will probably see a cabinet re-shuffle, with a shadow cabinet re-shuffle following. It will be interesting to see where the parties are in the polls towards the end of October. By then the conference hysteria will have gone away and we will be left with what people actually think of the parties.

With an election not due for 18 months, David Cameron and the Conservatives have to be careful to keep up the pressure on the government but not overdo it so that they have no steam left once the election is called. Even though much of the Tory conference has been overshadowed by the economic crisis, it been a reasonable success and Cameron’s speech that closed the conference ensured that party members will return to their various corners of the country infused to continue with their efforts with the closing words of the conference ringing through their mind, “there will be better times”.