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Oliver Letwin – 2003 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Oliver Letwin, the then Shadow Home Secretary, at the Conservative Party conference held in Blackpool on 7 October 2003.

Our debate today has been about something that has a real effect on our lives, and on the lives of our fellow citizens up and down this land.

It has been about millions of people who haven’t had a fair deal.

It has been about the grandmother who was killed in her shop last week, when she was trying to save her daughter from being shot by armed robbers. That family didn’t get a fair deal.

It has been about the seven year old girl shot dead a week before, the innocent victim of a vicious drugs war. She didn’t get a fair deal.

It has been about the two young girls who were tragically murdered earlier this year in streets in Aston that are run by gangs, not the police. They didn’t get a fair deal.

It has been about the shopkeeper I visited in North London, whose shop has regularly been pillaged by a gang of youths, but who can’t remember when he last saw a policeman on his street. He doesn’t get a fair deal.

It has been about the estate I saw in Peterborough, where a group of young men leave cars burnt-out after joy-riding, buy and sell drugs with impunity, and laugh in the faces of people who complain. The decent, hard working people who are trying to live in peace on that estate haven’t had a fair deal.

Today’s debate has been about the people held back and about the people left behind: the victims of crime left behind by a society that can no longer give its people freedom from fear; a society each of whose police officers contends with ten times as many crimes as fifty years ago; a society in which people have lost faith in the ability of the police to deal with crime; a society in which too often it is the law abiding citizen not the criminal who feels the full weight of regulation and authority.

We have a story in Dorset that may or may not be true, but certainly tells an important truth about our society:

A farmer sees someone entering his barn at night.

He calls 999.

The police say “sorry, no one available.”

Inspiration comes to the farmer.

He calls back: “I forgot to say, I’m about to shoot the intruder.”

Minutes later, amidst the helicopters, police cars and searchlights, the Inspector says to the farmer, who is standing idly by, “I thought you said you were going to shoot the intruder.”

The farmer replies, “I thought you said you had no one available.”

Now if we believe in a fair deal for everyone, we have to mean everyone. And that includes…the Government.

So let us be fair to the Government. Yes, it is true that they have failed. But it’s not because they don’t care. And it’s not because they haven’t tried. It’s because they are the only people in Britain who really believe in bureaucracy, who really think they can work it all out from Whitehall.

I am going to tell you this afternoon one of the most extraordinary facts about modern Britain.

For every one extra police officer recruited under Labour, the Home Office has hired more than one extra administrator in Whitehall.

That’s 9,000 extra police officers… 10,000 extra bureaucrats. So far as I can ascertain it’s a world record. Congratulations, Mr Blunkett.

The constables are in despair. They joined the police to do a job. They didn’t join to fill in forms for the Home Office. They didn’t join to tell crime victims ‘there’s nothing we can do’.

That isn’t a fair deal for anyone – not for the police, and not for the people they’re meant to be protecting.

***

To provide a fair deal, to rescue the neighbourhoods left behind, to pull young people off the conveyor belt to crime, to create a neighbourly society in Britain, we have to begin by reclaiming the streets.

We need a quantum leap in treatment and rehabilitation of young hard drug addicts. We need a quantum shift to longer more constructive and rehabilitative sentences for persistent young offenders. We need more help to rescue troubled young children and to give excluded pupils the training and discipline they need to return to the mainstream.

But all of these measures to lift young people off the conveyer belt to crime, all of these efforts to be tough on the causes of crime, won’t work unless we also get tough on crime and disorder by policing our neighbourhoods properly.

Just as they have in Brixton town centre, where back in June, I saw Inspector Sean Wilson and his team reclaiming the streets for local people.

Burglary is down, robbery is down, graffiti wiped away, abandoned cars towed away. Central Brixton is a safer, happier place than it was a couple of years ago.

What made the difference?

I’ll tell you: real and sustained neighbourhood policing, bobbies on the beat.

Call it what you like, but it works. It worked in New York. And it can work over here.

I’ve also seen policing that doesn’t work. Or rather I’ve not seen it, because there were no police to be seen. That was the case when I visited other parts of Brixton and when I visited the Clarence Way Estate in Camden.

They had their police patrols too, of course. Present on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and every other Saturday. Unfortunately I was there after they had gone home. And so were the drug dealers I saw…and the junkies and the pimps and the vandals.

The police are so overstretched that they have become part-time. The criminals are full-time. In fact they do over-time, blighting the lives of local people every day of the week, every hour of the day.

I spoke earlier about the tragic killing of the grandmother last week. Her husband said:

“The law has vanished…the police are completely demoralised. Thirty years ago, there were always two officers walking up and down the street and the crime rate was nil. Now there are hardly any. People know they can walk into a shop with a gun and no one will stop them”

A National Newspaper noted that he was speaking for millions of people up and down the land. The Newspaper asked: “is anybody listening?”

There is at least one person listening. I am.

Ladies and gentlemen, we must put the police back on our streets.

That is why the Conservative Party is committed to having 40,000 more police officers than there were at the beginning of this year.

We’ll fund a great part of this by sorting out the shambles of Labour’s asylum and immigration system which costs the country £1,800 million a year – over a thousand million pounds more than it cost in 1997. We will replace the present asylum system – in its entirety – with a system of quotas for genuine refugees and the offshore processing of all claims, to deter all but genuine claims for protection from persecution.

Of course, we won’t be able to do this if the new EU Constitution comes in, but that is just one more reason why we have to have a referendum, one way or another, and throw that Constitution out.

Once we’ve thrown out the Constitution, and totally replaced the current asylum system, the savings made will pay for the recruitment of 5,000 extra police a year in each of the years of the next parliament.

As I said a moment ago, over the years from 1997 to 2003, the Labour Government has provided an average of 1,500 extra policemen a year. We will provide 5,000 extra policemen each year until we reach our 40,000.

But we have to do more than just provide the extra police officers. We have to make sure that instead of being stuck behind desks, they are put onto the streets and into the neighbourhoods. If they are properly deployed, our 40,000 new police officers can triple the number of officers actually on the beat.

This is our pledge to the nation, our challenge in Government.

Your police.

On your streets.

Reclaiming your streets for the honest citizen.

And by your police, I mean just that. Your police force under your control.
Mr Blunkett believes that local policing needs central control. From West Dorset to West Yorkshire, he wants to run the lot from Westminster. I want him to be the last Home Secretary who does that.

I want to be the first Home Secretary who doesn’t run any part of local policing in Britain. The age of interference at an end. The web of bureaucracy swept away.

No more so called National Policing Plans. No more centrally imposed targets. No more Whitehall-based units and initiatives and performance-monitoring.

Central government off the back of local police officers.

***
The worst thing about the so-called low-level crime and disorder that wreck so many neighbourhoods, is that law-abiding people feel powerless to do anything about it.

Everyone in this hall, and all our fellow-citizens know what I am talking about: the small town, powerless to stop the police station closing at night; the old lady at the police community group, powerless to get a bobby to patrol her staircase where the addicts leave the needles; the owner of the local curry house, powerless to stop yobs jumping on his roof.

Why should honest citizens be powerless in these ways? It just isn’t fair.

They don’t need to be. And if I am the next Home Secretary, they won’t be.

We are going to give people a real say on the policing of their neighbourhoods.

Today, I’m publishing – and publishing for public consultation on the web – radical proposals to hand power over neighbourhood policing back to local communities. It works in other countries. Why can’t we have it working here?

We will remove, by law, the Home Secretary’s power over local policing.

We will give every Chief Constable a cast-iron legal guarantee of operational independence.

And we will put each local police force under the direct, democratic control of local people.

That means wherever you live, your Chief Constable will answer to someone you elected.

If you don’t like the way your neighbourhood is policed, with a Conservative Government, you will be able to vote for change.

Giving people a fair deal means trusting people. Trusting people means giving people power over their own lives, their own communities. Giving people power means giving you the power to change. It means giving the police the resources they need and giving people the power to ensure that those resources are used to reclaim our streets for the honest citizen.

***

Edmund Burke once said:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

What could be more apposite, more relevant to our predicament as a nation, today?

If there is one thing in the man made world I believe in, that thing is Britain’s liberal democracy.

But we cannot and must not take the continuity of that precious liberty for granted.

I remind you:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

If we do nothing; if we fail to address the fears and concerns of our fellow citizens in hard-pressed neighbourhoods who are despondent about the social and physical decay that surrounds them, who are appalled by the drugs and the crime on their estates, and who are terrified of the gangs that roam their streets; if we leave these people behind; if we hold back the police through lack of resources and a suffocating blanket of central bureaucracy; if we do not trust the people enough to give them the power to bring about change; if we leave them with a justified sense of unfairness, then we foster by omission an evil extremism that imperils our peace, our prosperity and our liberty.

Today, as we go out from this hall and work together towards the re-election of a Conservative Government, we take to the inhabitants of the hard pressed estates, we take to the victims of crime who have been left behind, we take to the hard-working police officers who have been held back by stifling bureaucracy, we take to the people of this country a single, simple message: We are on your side.

21/08/2022
Damian Green – 2003 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Damian Green, the then Shadow Secretary of State for Education, at the Conservative Party conference held in Blackpool on 6 October 2003.

In 1996 Tony Blair stood on this spot and famously said that his priority was education, education, education.

Did he mean it ? Or had the autocue stuck? Whether it was truth or spin, it lacked the fundamental ingredient of substance. And ever since, his Government has betrayed teachers, parents, pupils and students.

In those days, New Labour asked us to trust them. Trust them with the health service. Trust them to make our streets safer. Trust them to educate and train the next generation of doctors, teachers, builders and plumbers.

Trust them? I would rather trust John Prescott to mark GCSE English.

Labour failures

Let’s look at the facts. One in three children leave primary school unable to read, write and count properly. One in three!

This year, more than 30,000 children left secondary school without a single GCSE. 30,000!

And up and down the country teachers have been made redundant and schools are plunging into deficit because this Government gives money with one hand, takes it away with the other, and then hopes that nobody notices.

Well let me tell Gordon Brown and Charles Clarke. Parents, governors and teachers have noticed the way you have betrayed our schools. We don’t forgive you, and nor will they.

What have six years of New Labour brought to our schools?

· The confidence in our exam system destroyed
· Teenagers taking so many exams that they have to give up sport, music and drama
· Teachers spending hours filling in forms instead of teaching
· And above all, dozens of useless targets set by Ministers

Charles Clarke used the targets to say that incompetent heads should be, in his words, ‘taken out’. But when he missed the key Literacy and Numeracy targets in primary schools, he just changed the date by when he needed to hit them.

So under Labour, when teachers miss their target the teacher gets sacked. But when ministers miss their target the target gets sacked.

It’s typical. From Education, to Transport, Defence and Health, right up to No 10 itself, this is a Government full of Ministers who refuse to take responsibility, and who never ever own up.

Let’s look at some of their initiatives. Labour doesn’t want violent pupils excluded from school. In the real world that means that the small disruptive minority can cause havoc in our classrooms. It is time to give classroom control back to the teachers where it belongs.

Too many children have been turned off school altogether. Whose fault is this? Not the teachers.

Two years ago, when Iain gave me this job, I stood here and said I would not blame teachers for things going wrong. And two years on I am more convinced than ever that most teachers are hard-working conscientious professionals who want the best for their children—and this Party recognises that.

Underneath all their talk of celebrating good teachers, the Government has simply failed to trust them. That’s why teachers, and heads, and governors, and parents no longer trust this Prime Minister and his Government.

I talk to teachers all the time. They tell me why they joined the profession. How they believed that they could inspire the children they taught. And I have seen lessons that really inspire me.

I sat in on a lesson about Thomas Aquinas where 14-year-olds in a London comprehensive discussed his theory of the proof of God’s existence from the argument of First Causes.

I know everyone in this hall will be familiar with the theological niceties of all this.

But listening to a teacher guide a discussion on Thomas Aquinas in a class roughly one third Christian, one third Muslim, and one third with no religion at all was a real lesson in how to bring the best out of all our children.

So of course good things are happening in many of our schools. But teachers also tell me other things.

They tell me about their fear that they may be beaten up. Every seven minutes of every school day there is an attack on a teacher.

Their sadness that at least one member of their class is unlikely to turn up, out truanting with fifty thousand others every day.

And their disappointment that this Government, and its constant interference, is telling them how to teach their class and how to run their schools.

So Government meddling lies at the root of these serious problems.

We will change all that.

And we are the only party that will deal with the real problems of discipline and standards.

The Liberal Democrats held an education debate at their conference. Faced with the huge challenges in our schools and universities, what was the big Lib Dem idea?

Compulsory sex education for 7-year-olds.

And this from a party that wants to be taken seriously.

The Conservative Approach to Schools

Our approach will deal with the real problems. Let me tell you how we will tackle them.

I have a unique ambition for a politician. I am the first aspiring Education Secretary to want less power not more.

That’s because our Conservative approach, which we will all be laying before you this week, is about taking power away from the Ministries and giving it back to the British people.

Trust the people. It was always the approach that served us best and this Conference will see us set out new policies that come from our fundamental beliefs – that local is better than central, and that power should be dispersed, not concentrated.

Our Party is at its best when it spreads wealth and opportunity. Twenty years ago we gave millions of people their first chance to buy their council house and gain control over their lives.

We, the Conservative Party, will now give millions of parents their first chance to choose a school they really want for their children, and gain control over how their children learn.

Council house sales defined the new freedoms that transformed this country in the 1980s. Today I am launching our Better Schools Passport.

These will define new opportunities that will transform our education system.

Quite simply, these passports will give the money that the state spends on their child’s education to the parents, and let the parents decide in which school it should be spent.

It will be a passport to a better school for all children.

It will offer a radical extension of school choice. It will allow all children to aspire to an excellent education.

We will start in the inner cities, where the problems are worst.

Today I am announcing that the Passports will be piloted in big cities including Inner London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

And then we will introduce them to the rest of the country bringing real choice to all parents in all schools in all areas.

Our scheme will give parents access to new schools, funded by the state but run independently, to meet the needs of those parents who can’t find the right school for their child.

The Better Schools Passport will revolutionise our school system.

We will allow parents and other groups to create new types of school within the maintained sector.

What sort of new schools? All sorts.

Some parents want small schools. Some parents want traditional schools.

Some parents want schools like the Tabernacle School in North London which Iain and I visited earlier this year. A school started five years ago by a black-majority church to help pupils, most of whom had been excluded from their previous school. These children now find that the small classes and firm but fair discipline enable them to achieve their full potential.

This school symbolises a vision of hope that our inner cities desperately need.

It is a vision of hope that all parents want.

And it is a vision of hope that only the Conservative Party, with our fundamental belief in freedom and choice, will provide.

We believe that parents know what is best for their children. Not Tony Blair or Charles Clarke or me.

Some parents will want a school that specialises in vocational education. And how much does this country need a vast expansion of technical schools, so that we can give a decent start in life to children with practical rather than academic abilities.

And I will tell you one other type of school I am very confident parents will want. The sort of school where academic children from any background, rich or poor, are given a chance to stretch themselves.

We already have 164 of these schools. They are called grammar schools and Labour and the Liberal Democrats still want to destroy them. We will support our existing grammar schools.

And we will go further. Under this scheme we will see new grammar schools opening for the first time in a generation. They will provide a ladder out of deprivation for thousands of children, just like they used to.

Labour politicians ask “Why do so few children from poor backgrounds go to university?” Well, I’ll tell them. It’s because they don’t go to schools that let their talents and intelligence and energy flow. Give them the right schools, with discipline and order and a love of learning, and they will have a chance of real academic achievement.

Only a Conservative Government can give them that chance. We will give them a Fair Deal.

Higher Education

And we will transform the prospects of those who aspire to a university education. An aspiration that Labour’s lies and deceit on tuition fees are taking away.

In 1997, Labour promised there would be no tuition fees. In 1998 Labour introduced tuition fees.

In 2001, Labour promised there would be no top-up fees. If Labour win the next election then by 2006 there will be top up fees.

Labour’s tuition fees are a tax on learning which will leave students with huge debts and universities tied up in red tape.

Let me tell you now, the first thing a Conservative Government will do is introduce a Bill to scrap tuition fees. Under a Conservative Government entry to university will be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay.

So take this simple message with you out of this hall and onto every doorstep in the country – under a Conservative Government families with children at university will face thousands of pounds less debt.

Labour also wants to discriminate against pupils from good schools—saying that they are at an unfair advantage when they apply to university. What kind of bitter, twisted world do Labour politicians live in, when they try to penalise children for getting into a good school?

A university place should be awarded on academic merit and potential, not as a result of social engineering and political meddling.

Under a Conservative Government tuition will be free, and a degree will always be a meaningful and useful qualification.

Conclusion

Education used to be regarded by the pundits as a Labour issue. Well not any more.

We now have schools where teachers are sworn at and assaulted. We have classrooms where teachers are afraid to innovate because Big Brother has told them exactly how to do their job. And we have universities where quantity has replaced quality as the main driving force.

Six years of New Labour, and what have they done?

They have messed up the exam system, downgraded key subjects, second-guessed teachers, hunted for scapegoats, insulted LEAS, demoralised professionals, overloaded governors, undermined authority, damaged confidence, ignored heads, wasted money, destroyed standards, created jargon, imposed dogma, interfered, fiddled, meddled, drivelled, bleated, huffed, puffed, and,
as Alistair Campbell would put it, totally fluffed it up.

At the next election we will offer a real alternative on education.

Freedom for schools
Trust for teachers
Choice and diversity for parents
And a fair deal for pupils and students

That’s the way to give all children the start they deserve. Only a Conservative Government can deliver it – so let’s get out there and make sure we have one.

21/08/2022
Steve Norris – 2003 Speech to Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Steve Norris, the then Conservative candidate for London Mayor, at the Conservative Party conference held in Blackpool on 7 October 2003.

There is absolutely no doubt that unless we win in the cities, the Conservatives are never going to win in the country. It is where the vast majority of this country’s population actually live but, more to the point, it is where, every single day, people come up against the kind of problems that no political party can ignore if it is wants to form the Government of Britain.

I am absolutely dedicated to the idea that politics doesn’t mean anything unless it means you want to improve the quality of life for the people around you, for yourself and your own family, for your own community. In London, I have got another mission as well: you can call it personal if you like. But I desperately believe that London deserves better than Livingstone.

How do you win in cities? The pretty obvious truth is that you do exactly the same as you would do if you wanted to win anywhere else in the country. You wouldn’t tell people what was right for them. You wouldn’t tell people what they cared about. You would listen. Listen to what they say. I can tell you that if you do listen to people in London – and it’s certainly not something Ken Livingstone has done very much over the last three and a half years – you would find out that they all care about the same kind of things.

They care about decent health care. They want it to be available when they need it. They want it to be the kind of quality that impresses them rather than appals them. They appreciate what a national health service means but they know it can be better.

They want decent education for their kids. The vast majority have no alternative to the State and, in too many cases, it is simply not good enough. They just want their local school to be decent and to offer the kind of education their kids can benefit from.

But above all, and I mean above all, what they want is to feel safe on their own streets and in their own homes. That is all. It is not much. Safe on their own streets and in their own homes. And that is what I aim to do something about in London.

Every single conference I have been to over the past twenty years, I have listened to speakers quote me statistics about what’s going up and what’s going down. – knowing Oliver he is probably too intelligent to feed you statistics about crime – but I do know this I listen to Ken Livingstone and he tells me that crime in London is down. So that’s alright then. Livingstone has got some statistic that shows that crime in London is down. He has a problem. Which is that not only do I not believe him but that Londoners don’t believe him either. Because they don’t feel as safe now as they did three years ago when Ken Livingstone was elected.

They feel less safe in London and that is not because of the murder rate or number of bank robberies. Last Friday night, I was in a part of London called Hornchurch in one of those suburban town centres like a hundred others. It was about seven o’clock. Night was falling. We were walking back from the tube station down the high street. Still a number of people on the street coming home from work or doing some last minute shopping. Cars driving past. And we saw a group of kids about a hundred yards away, coming out of the chip shop, next to the bus stop. Quite a crowd of them. As we were about to get into our car, I glanced over, and saw this kid, not a day over 13 I am sure of that, lift her foot – yes her foot – and just start kicking the hell out of the telephone box. And then she picked up the receiver and began smashing it onto the side. Maybe to get the money out. Maybe just to break it? I don’t know.

But she did it without even thinking about the consequences because she couldn’t care less. She knew that no-one was going to be there and no-one was going to stop her. Because she knew that if you clipped her round the ear you’d be in court and if that she clipped you, you’d probably be in a local hospital. That is what makes people feel less safe in our capital. Low level crime. Graffiti. Just that sort of petty vandalism, public drunkenness, yob culture.

That’s why people actually feel more threatened in their own communities, more threatened in their homes than they did before this massive additional spending which Livingstone has laid on the shoulders of council taxpayers in the capital. And for which the average Londoner feels no benefit whatsoever.

Do you know that Ken Livingstone went to New York last year and he came back and he said, “I feel safer in New York than I do in London”. Well Mr Mayor what the hell are you doing about it? Because as far as I am concerned you could never make that statement as Mayor of London without saying, here and now, that’s not good enough. That is something that Londoners demand and deserve that the Mayor does something about.

Incidentally, let’s be clear about one thing: the Mayor of London has the power and the responsibility to make the difference. The Mayor of London is the one person who can actually make the difference. The Mayor of London controls the £2.7billion budget of the Metropolitan Police. So never ever listen to someone like Livingstone who makes excuses by always saying, “I don’t have the power. I wish I could help but I don’t have the power.” He will always say that, because that’s his only excuse for his failure to deliver.

Let’s be clear. The Mayor of London has got the power. He who pays the piper calls the tune. He has the budget, the responsibility and the power. All that is needed is the political will and leadership from the top to make it happen.

And here’s the good news. It can be done.

Twelve years ago, in New York, you had a city that people said was as out of control. You looked at New York and it was the kind of place you got into and out of as quick as you could. Because it was seen as ungovernable. Crime was everywhere. It was a city where every citizen went in fear. They had Mayors of course: Mayors who didn’t make much of a difference; Mayors who made matters worse. Along came a guy called Rudolph Giuliani – a great Mayor – a name, sadly, I suppose, since 9/11 a name known around the world. But what most people know is that what Rudolph Giuliani is actually remembered for by Americans, what his achievement was in the city of New York was that he made it a place that was safe once again.

If it can be done in New York, it can be done in London.

A Mayor can change the perception of a city where people fear living in their own community and make it a city where people feel more safe.

For me this is personal. I am just a Londoner living in a particular part of a great city of seven and a half million people. But over the last three years, I have had my house burgled – I had the door battered down at four thirty in the morning. I have had my car stolen and I have been mugged.

But all of that is just an every day Londoner’s experience. Every night, what’s the last thing that you do? You put the chain up. You bolt the chubb lock. And frankly if you live somewhere like I do, you put the alarm so that if anyone gets in on the alarm goes off. And it just says that this is not the city that I want to live in.

I want to do something about that.

I will tell you something else too. It’s not just people like me. Not just white, middle class men. Because whether you are black or white, gay or straight, rich or poor, young or old, whether you live in inner or outer London. You feel the same desire to feel safe in your home and in your street. It’s a great mission. It is something that I feel absolutely determined to do in London. I know it can be done.

Some people say but how can it be done? Let me give you just one simple example. Using the Metropolitan Police’s own figures, if you divide up the total number of officers deployed in the boroughs, there should on an average day be 600 – yes 600 police officers – in every single borough in London. And yet in any part of London at any time of day or night you’d be lucky to find more than a dozen out on the streets. That is totally unacceptable and is something I am not prepared to tolerate.

I have said to London time and again: if I don’t succeed, don’t re-elect me. But I know that this time, that while Livingstone promises us fewer pigeons in Trafalgar Square and ignores the fact that Londoners feel less safe now than they did when he was elected, he is selling them short.

London deserves better than Ken Livingstone.

Next year, on the 10th June, I believe we can elect a Conservative Mayor who is going to make a difference and a Conservative-dominated Greater London Assembly that is going to support the Mayor. We are going to show people in this country and in our party that we can win in cities. And when you can win in cities, you can, as we will, win in the country.

21/08/2022
Theresa May – 2003 Speech at Conservative Party Conference

The speech made by Theresa May, the then Chair of the Conservative Party, at the party’s conference held in Blackpool on 6 October 2003.

This is the most important conference we have held in a decade. As we meet here in Blackpool, the eyes of the country are upon us. People are starting to look for a new government and they want to know if we can do the job.

The battleground for the next election is already set.

The people of Britain are fed up with failing public services.

They’re fed up with paying more and more in tax.

They’re fed up with a Prime Minister who covers up his government’s failures with spin and deceit.

And one thing has become abundantly clear.

Labour isn’t working again.

Our task this week is not to tell the British people how Labour have failed. They know that already!

Our task is to tell them how a Conservative government will succeed.

Because for the people of Britain, we are the only alternative government of this country.

We are the only party that can bring an end to Labour’s years of failure.

But people need to know if we are ready.

And this week we must give them a resounding answer -Yes we are!

Everything we say and do must show that we are united in purpose.
That we understand people’s lives and share their values and concerns.

And that we have the policies, and the experience, to govern Britain better in the interests of all our people.

And then there will be one more thing left to do.

If we want to govern this country, we will have to win.

And if we are going to win, then from every member of the party to every Member of Parliament, we all must have the will, the drive and the determination to win.

No politician has the right to be elected. No political party has the right to hold power.
There is no such thing as a natural party of government.

So if we are to win, we will have to earn it.

We can never forget that we are the servants of the people – and they are increasingly critical of the way that politicians behave.

People want an end to the sniping, the point scoring, the ranting and raving that often passes for political debate in Britain today.

They want a different kind of government.

A government that admits when it’s got it wrong.

A government that owns up to the fact that it doesn’t have all the answers.

A government that knows that people’s lives are too important for politics to be conducted like a playground game.

As Conservatives, we should take the lead.

We should leave the yah-boo stuff to others and instead behave in a way that gives credibility to our promises.

Politics has changed.

The world has changed.

In today’s Britain, we all know that the old binding ties of family or class…

…the old habits of deference and unquestioning loyalty
…the old tribal allegiances of party politics
…all these have gone.

So today’s political parties win not because they only hang on to their traditional supporters, but because they understand how the people of Britain live today, and because they offer them solutions that can work in Britain tomorrow.

We have to show we understand the problems parents face just to get their children to a decent school.

We have to show we recognise what it’s like to watch an elderly parent suffering in pain, because a government target says they’re not a priority for treatment.

We have to show we care…

…about people’s pensions being reduced year by year
…and about the student who wants to go to university, but can’t afford to pay Labour’s tuition fees.

Because these are the things people care about.

They’re tired of politicians who parade across the world stage making high-minded promises when all they want is someone to make their lives a bit easier.

Our leader, Iain Duncan Smith, has lead the way in listening to people in some of the most difficult parts of our country.

He has shown that this Party’s message is for everyone in this country.

People want a government that will know when to act and when to stand back.
Not like Labour – who think government alone has the answers to all our problems.
And that’s why Labour have got it wrong.
And they will never get it right.

So what’s the alternative?
The Liberal Democrats?!
I don’t think so.
Now you might say that some of their policies are a bit loony.
But the last time we said that we got into trouble.

We received a letter from a member of the Monster Raving Loony Party’s Shadow Cabinet.
He wrote to object to our description of the LibDem’s policies as loony.
We wrote back and we told him that it was official Liberal Democrat policy…

…to give votes to convicted rapists but criminalise parents for smacking their children;
…to allow anyone to use any hard drug at home but to ban smoking in public;
…to make it illegal for teenagers to buy pets but compulsory for seven-year-olds to get sex education;
and even to outlaw goldfish from being given as prizes at funfairs.

He replied – let me read you what he said:

‘I am afraid that kind of nonsense would find no place in the Official Monster Raving Loony Party manifesto’.

‘We’re loonies, not nutters’.

But the Liberal Democrats don’t win votes because they have good policies.
They don’t!

What they’re good at is taking the credit when something gets done, particularly when somebody else has done it.

And what they’re best at…

…is being all things
…to all people
…all of the time.

So it’s not good enough for us to sit back in Westminster and simply try to shout them down.

We have to take them on …

…on the ground…
…and show them up…
…for who they really are…
…and what they – really – stand for.

Because the truth is they stand for nothing. They have no answers for Britain.

But we do.

We know what we stand for and we know it works.

Freedom.

Choice.

Enterprise.

Trusting people

Respect for those who help themselves.

Support for those who can’t.

Smaller government. Bigger citizens.
A belief in the innate good sense of our people and in the enduring values of our nation.

That is what I stand for.
It’s what we stand for.
It’s what we’ve always stood for.

But today we have to apply those beliefs to new problems.
And we must redefine them to match the world we live in.

As Conservatives we actively pursue freedom.

But that can’t mean leaving people to fend for themselves. Because there will always be those who for whatever reason need a helping hand.

What it does mean is finding new ways to set people free from the interference of government. Because people always make better decisions for themselves than politicians or bureaucrats ever can.

That’s why choice should no longer be a luxury for the rich but a reality for all of us.
And that’s why Conservatism is as vital today as it’s always been.

Our beliefs teach us to accept how people live and to make no judgements beyond those that are essential to ensure the greatest degree of freedom for all.

It’s Labour that seeks to herd people into groups, to label them and deal with them collectively.

It is the Conservative Party that respects people for who they are and welcomes them as individuals on their own merits.

Rich or poor. Straight or gay. Black or white.
Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, the Conservative Party is for you.

Our trust in people will shine through each and every policy we announce this week.

From David Willetts’ proposals to tackle the pensions crisis and end the indignity of means testing through Liam Fox and Damian Green’s plans for more choice in health and education.

To Oliver Letwin’s innovative ideas for giving people more say in their local policing and David Davis’s plans to give power back to local councils.

The reforms we are outlining go with the grain of our times.
For a world that’s more competitive, for a society grown more demanding, for a people who deserve better.

We’ll deliver a Britain freer, fairer and stronger.

Just think…

…once teachers are free to serve parents not bureaucrats then school hours can be set to help working families.
…once patients are given greater choice then appointments and treatments can be set to suit them.
…and once the police are made more responsive to local people’s demands then elderly people will not have to feel that the streets are a no-go zone.

These are just some examples of how today’s Conservative Party could make people’s lives so much better and deliver a fair deal for everyone.

It’s why we have begun rebuilding our support among the British people – just look at our success in May in the local council elections in England, in Scotland and in Wales.

But people have only just begun looking around for an alternative to this government.

There is still a lot to do.

But have no doubt.

Under Iain Duncan Smith’s leadership, there will be no going back.

There is no future in the past.

Under Iain’s leadership, the Conservative Party has set out on a new journey.

We are on the right path.

We are moving in the right direction.

We’ve asked people what they want.

And they want a fair deal for everyone so that people who build our communities, drive our economy, pay their taxes, and run our public services are not held back.

They want a fair deal for everyone so that people who are disadvantaged, dependent on others, or who need a helping hand are not left behind.

A fair deal for everyone.

It’s the theme of our conference.

It’s the mission of our party.

It’s what we stand for.

When you came into the hall today you were given a document.

It’s not a manifesto.

It’s not a policy proposal.

It’s not a roadmap.

It’s a message of Conservative belief and ambition for our country.

And after every speech this week, you will receive fair deal cards that spell out how each major policy area fits into that message.

Take them. Use them. Spread our message.

Because remember that in an age when less and less attention is paid to what we say and do in Westminster, you are the main channel between the Party and the voters.

I want to thank you for the work you already do.

In many parts of the country the fair deal message is being lived out by Conservatives in local government and local communities.

We’ve made a great start.

But I want to ask you for more.

We need to build a 21st Century Party to complement the 21st Century policies we have in place.

That means…

…turning a structure that was designed to support the government of yesterday.
…into a vehicle that can deliver the government of tomorrow.

Between now and the next election, I will be focusing on nothing else.

If we are going to build a party to win, we are going to have to challenge and change the things that hold back our ability to win.

Last year, I challenged the Party to think about the sort of candidates we should be choosing for today’s Britain, to think about finding the right people to represent our party.
You responded, and as a result the face of our party is changing.

What better example can we have than Wolverhampton South West? Enoch Powell’s old seat where they’ve selected an Asian woman – Sandy Verma. Well-done Sandy.

And congratulations to Adam Afriyie who has just been selected as our candidate in Windsor.

We have made progress.

But there’s still more to do.

And we have to make progress in other areas too.

When we campaign, we must use the most up-to-date techniques. It means using email and the internet, using new media, being willing to embrace new ideas and not just relying on our tried and trusted methods or the way we’ve always done things.

It means adopting different methods for different groups.

Look at Conservative Future.

They’re running a national text message campaign to tell people that only the Conservatives will scrap all Labour’s university tuition fees.

This is the campaigning of today.

We must look at how we target our resources too.

I was keen that in this year’s local elections we targeted our resources carefully and the great success of those elections proved that it works.

But we can’t leave it there – not if we are serious about getting back into government – If we’re going to win.

We must take the fight to our opponents, not only in seats that we already hold, but in places that we need to win if we are to be the next government of this country.

We must support the seats that will make the difference.

This is our challenge if we want to win the next General Election and not just fight it.

We must deliver the campaigning and organisation to win.

It’s the task Iain has charged me with completing.

And we must all do it because we firmly believe this party – the party I joined as a teenager…

…the party I have always been proud to call my home has the answers to the problems Britain is facing today.

My only interest is in winning the next election so that we can make Britain a better place to live.

That’s why I’m here.

That’s why we’re all here.

We can win the next general election. But let’s not allow ourselves to think the hard work is over. Let’s not allow the speeches you hear this week to remain merely words. Let’s ask ourselves what must we do to turn those words into action?

People care about the things that affect their lives.

They care about their families and the places they live.

They don’t care about the things that obsess the Westminster village.

Bill Clinton may have got a lot of things wrong, but he was not wrong in saying this:

“People don’t care about the rhetoric of left and right…
And liberal and conservative…
And who is up and who is down…
They are real people… They have real problems… and they are crying desperately for someone who believes the purpose of government is to solve those problems”.

Ladies and Gentlemen: we must be that government!

And we can be that government.

But one question still hangs in the air:

Labour have done enough to lose the next election.

Have we done enough to win?

Have we done enough to earn the right to be in Government once again? Or could Labour win the next election by default? Our country cannot afford another five years of Labour Government and we are the only party that can put them out of business.

So as the eyes of Britain focus on us this week, let us show them the real Conservative Party.

A party of hope and aspiration.

…of freedom and social justice.

…of fairness and opportunity.

A united party – for everyone, and of everyone.

A party of today.

A 21st Century Party.

A party that can win…

and be a 21st Century Government.

21/08/2022
Michael Ancram – 2003 Speech on the Real Lesson of the Iraq Conflict

The speech made by Michael Ancram, the then Shadow Foreign Secretary, at a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference held in Blackpool on 7 October 2003.

The real lesson of the Iraq conflict and its aftermath is only now becoming clear. It is the importance of a multilateral approach to genuine threats to international peace and security. The need for a multilateral response to reconstruction in Iraq is self-evident.

What is becoming clearer is the need when undertaking military action to avoid an over-personalisation of the conflict in national terms. It was and is important that such actions are not ‘Tony Blair’s war with Saddam’ or Britain’s war against Iraq. It has to be the ‘international community’ in one form or another that undertakes the responsibility for what are essentially world policing actions. The Coalition in Iraq was wide enough, but only just, to satisfy this requirement in theory.

In practice it was not wide enough to prevent a perception in much of the Islamic world that this was a ‘western’ adventure against one of their own number. This made the process of post conflict resolution and reconstruction more difficult. In Iraq there is an innate suspicion still as to the motives of the coalition which leads in turn to non-cooperation and even to downright hostility. Overwhelming unilateral military force wins military campaigns. It rarely wins hearts and minds after the fighting is done.

Faced, as the world is by other serious threats to international peace and security where the involvement of the ‘international community’ will be vital, it is urgent and essential that the process of reaching sensible international consensus on action is re-examined.

The lesson of Iraq is that the UN Security Council when put to the test failed. The self-indulgent threat of inevitable veto by France prevented the second Resolution being tabled. The dismissive talk by Tony Blair of ignoring ‘unreasonable’ vetoes without defining what was meant by unreasonable other than that he personally disagreed with them raised questions about the whole way the UNSC works. The answer is that on this occasion it didn’t. When it was most needed, it gridlocked.

Multilateralism requires an effective Security Council. Failure to develop one will strengthen the arm of unilateralism with all the downstream weaknesses that inevitably flow from it.

21/08/2022
PRESS RELEASE : President appointed Andriy Kostin Prosecutor General: The most important task of the prosecutor’s office is to hold all Russian war criminals to account

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 28 July 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on the appointment of Andriy Kostin to the post of the Prosecutor General and introduced him to the body’s management.

In the presence of the Head of State, the new Prosecutor General signed the order on the appointment of his deputy – Head of the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Oleksandr Klymenko.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the start of the new Prosecutor General’s work on the Day of Ukrainian Statehood, which is celebrated for the first time today, symbolic.

The President expressed belief that Andriy Kostin, as a professional lawyer and an expert who is attentive to details, will ensure the systematic work of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

“I believe that Andriy Yevhenovych can prove himself in all the functions of the Prosecutor General. The most important thing is to ensure systematic work so that there is a result, because we are evaluated based on the results,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Handing Andriy Kostin the Prosecutor General’s certificate, the President noted: “The Ukrainian people have experienced and seen a lot of injustice over the years – both now and in previous generations. But right now it is necessary to ensure the vital thing for society – justice.”

The Head of State named the restoration of justice, defense of Ukraine’s interests, its sovereignty and territorial integrity as the main tasks for today.

“Therefore, I believe that the most important task of the prosecutor’s office is to bring to justice all Russian war criminals who came to our land and did everything that, unfortunately, we and our children know in detail,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

Andriy Kostin, for his part, emphasized that no crime committed by the aggressor country will go unpunished.

“I count on the support of the entire prosecutor’s office community in fulfilling the priority tasks set by you, Mr. President. We will ensure the inevitability of punishment both in national courts and at the international level for everyone who committed a war crime on our native land,” he said.

The new Prosecutor General announced that his first decision in office is the appointment of the independent Head of the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office Oleksandr Klymenko who has passed the competitive selection.

21/08/2022
PRESS RELEASE : In the presence of the Head of State, the Parliament approved the appointment of Andriy Kostin as the Prosecutor General

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 27 July 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada, during which the parliament endorsed the resolution initiated by the Head of State on granting consent to the appointment of Andriy Kostin to the position of Prosecutor General. 299 people’s deputies voted for the document.

During his speech in the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Kostin emphasized that in times of full-scale Russian invasion, it is necessary to ensure the inevitability of punishment for every war criminal, representatives of the political and military leadership of Russia.

“We must stop the terror and genocide of the Ukrainian nation. First of all, proper recording and documentation of the aggressor’s crimes will contribute to this. And the evidence should be collected in such a way that all of them are recognized as admissible in court,” he said.

Andriy Kostin noted that prosecutors should urgently ensure proper procedural guidance in all such proceedings.

The candidate for the post of Prosecutor General also emphasized the importance of ensuring proper international cooperation, in particular with the International Criminal Court.

According to Andriy Kostin, it is necessary to bring to justice those who cooperated with the enemy. In particular, this applies to corrupt law enforcers.

He drew attention to the urgent appointment of the Head of the Specialized Anticorruption Prosecutor’s Office, whose candidacy was determined based on the results of the competitive selection.

Andriy Kostin also supports the President’s position regarding the earliest possible holding of a competition for the election of the Director of the National Anticorruption Bureau.

According to the candidate for the post of Prosecutor General, it is necessary to develop a Criminal Policy Strategy.

In addition, Andriy Kostin emphasized the importance of the implementation of judicial reform, as well as the formation of the High Council of Justice and the High Qualification Commission of Judges.

21/08/2022
PRESS RELEASE : President of Ukraine received the Winston Churchill Leadership Award

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 26 July 2022.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy received the Winston Churchill Leadership Award from the International Churchill Society. The Head of State took part in the award ceremony in the format of a video conference.

Chairman of the International Society Laurence Geller speaking from the press center of the Office of the Prime Minister of Great Britain (London) noted that these days there are events and phenomena that have not happened since the time of Winston Churchill 80 years ago.

“Democracy in Europe is now threatened by tyranny, and this threat is stopped by leadership and heroism. Like Winston Churchill, President Zelenskyy shows that tyranny must not succeed, that people must have the right to choose their own path and their own life,” said Laurence Geller.

According to him, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s devotion to the fundamental principles of democracy and firmness in defending his country helps Europe understand itself, and “his defense of democracy inspires us all.”

Laurence Geller also noted the role of Great Britain under the leadership of Prime Minister Boris Johnson in strengthening the ability of democracy to defend itself and deter aggression.

For his part, Boris Johnson noted that after the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy proved his leadership.

“When Russians started their advance on Kyiv, you knew that you would be their target. You could leave Kyiv, as the survival of the Ukrainian state then depended on the survival of its President. But you chose to stay in Kyiv, with the Ukrainian people, just as Churchill stayed in London in 1940. And you said then: “I need weapons,” reminded the head of the government of Great Britain.

According to him, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, like Winston Churchill at his time, overcomes extremely difficult challenges and inspires with his leadership.

“The Ukrainian people is a lion, and you should be its voice. A voice against tyranny, a voice of good against evil, light against darkness. And you showed this voice of the lion perfectly, and it is very important that you are the President at this time of crisis for Ukraine and the world. Inspired by your leadership, we know that Ukraine not only can win – it will win! And when that day comes, Ukraine will emerge as a strong independent state,” the Prime Minister of Great Britain emphasized.

Expressing gratitude for the award, the President of Ukraine noted that this award reflects not only his efforts, but also the heroism of tens of thousands of Ukrainian men and women who distinguished themselves in battles with the Russian aggressor.

“This award would not be possible if the entire Ukrainian people had not risen up to defend freedom from the attack of tyranny,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed.

He also expressed conviction that Ukrainians and European history will always remember those who did not hesitate to come to the aid of the Ukrainian people and the idea of freedom in general. In particular, the President noted Boris Johnson’s leadership.

According to the Head of State, now we are fighting not just for the land, the rights of people or the Ukrainian people, not just for freedom in Europe – we are fighting together so that no aggressor ever again considers war as a means to achieve aggressive goals.

“And perhaps for the first time in the history of mankind we are now able to show everyone in the world and for ages that democracies, united, can stop any tyranny, even if at first it seems that it has unlimited resources for aggression. But this can become a reality only if Russia loses on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

In this regard, he called for continuing the supply of modern and effective weapons to Ukraine in sufficient quantities, strengthening sanctions against Russia, and involving more nations in the coalition to protect freedom, especially those against whom Russia decided to use artificial famine in the XXI century.

“The democracies of the world are capable of stopping any tyranny. We are capable of stopping any evil that threatens our freedom. Only the joint leadership of the entire free world can be enough for this. And patience should be enough. Patience on the way to victory. No one knows today how much time and effort it will take to reach it. However, the victory is worth the effort. And it will become our shared history. So outstanding that you and I will later be quoted in the same way as we are now quoting Sir Churchill,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted.

The award of the Head of State was handed over to Ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain Vadym Prystaiko for delivery to the homeland.

21/08/2022
PRESS RELEASE : President of Ukraine: At the time of the full-scale invasion of Russia, it is necessary to pay special attention to important pages of our state formation

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 25 July 2022.

Ukraine will celebrate all important dates related to the history of our country, because at the time of full-scale Russian aggression, special attention should be paid to important pages of state formation. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this during a meeting with media representatives following negotiations with President of the Republic of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei Falla.

The Head of State noted that Ukraine is not going to give any part of the history of a great nation and a great state to anyone.

“Despite the fact that there is a war, we will definitely celebrate all important dates for our state. Yes, due to security conditions, it is not very loud, we cannot afford it, because today the money goes to the front. But these dates will definitely be in our calendar, in our memory, for our children. We must do it,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The President emphasized that it is important to overcome the Russian narrative regarding the history of Ukrainian statehood.

“The Day of Statehood, the Day of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus’ is a great history of our great nation. And it is not a coincidence that our state can’t be broken today: the history of the inviolability of our state is not one year and not one day. This history is a thousand years old. That’s why we fight and that’s why we will definitely win,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy also emphasized that Ukraine plans to celebrate Independence Day this year. According to him, the program of events is not disclosed until this date for security reasons.

21/08/2022
PRESS RELEASE : Ukraine will continue to do everything to export grain, and the issue of ship safety depends on international partners who agreed with the Russian Federation – Volodymyr Zelenskyy

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 25 July 2022.

Ukraine, for its part, will do everything necessary to ensure the export of agricultural products from its Black Sea ports, and the issue of the safety of ships of various countries depends on the United Nations and Turkey, which negotiated with the Russian Federation in this regard. This was stated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a conversation with media representatives following the negotiations with President of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei Falla in Kyiv.

“The whole world saw that even 24 hours hadn’t passed as shelling and missile strikes at the seaports of Ukraine began. For our part, we have done everything, prepared everything, there is a corridor. Ukraine controls everything in our waters, it is only Ukraine that will carry out inspections in our waters. You know that we de-occupied our Zmiinnyi Island. This is a very important aspect for security control in relation to other grain transportation corridors,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The President noted that the relevant agreements recorded on July 22 in Istanbul were to be implemented in this format.

“We trust Turkey and the United Nations with whom we signed relevant documents regarding the export of grain, and they were supposed to talk about the safety of the ships of other countries, which, by the way, agreed to transport grain – wheat, barley, corn,” he said .

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, it is now a matter for the UN and Turkey – how much they will be able to control the Russian Federation, which has shown that it can fire missiles even after agreements.

“This is, in principle, their attitude towards partners – the UN and Turkey,” the Head of State said.

The President emphasized that Ukraine will definitely start exporting grain to once again prove to the whole world that it is not the country that is blocking this process.

“These are the narratives that are spread today due to disinformation and fake information by the Russian side. Therefore, we will start exporting, and let the partners take care of security,” he said.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again emphasized that Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea region will lead to famine on the African continent and in many Asian countries.

“We already know that even because of the fires that are currently taking place in Europe, there will be a large deficit and an increase in prices on the European continent,” he added.

21/08/2022