Tag: Oliver Dowden

The statement made by Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, in the House of Commons on 19 December 2022.

I wish to inform the House that I am publishing the UK Government resilience framework further to the commitment made in the integrated review for greater strategic planning in this vital area. With the increasing volatility and inter-connectedness of risks and hazards, a strong resilience system is more important than ever. In March 2021, the integrated review committed the Government to developing a new resilience strategy to strengthen our approach to preparedness and civil protection. This new framework delivers on that commitment and takes a systemic approach to all national threats.

The UK Government’s resilience framework articulates our ongoing plan to strengthen the systems and capabilities that underpin the UK’s resilience to all civil contingencies risks, from extreme weather to supply chain challenges or public health emergencies. It is ensuring that as well as managing immediate crises, we maintain a greater collective focus on preparation and preventing crises from happening in the first place.

The framework is built around three core principles:

A shared understanding of the risks we face is essential: it must underpin everything that we do to prepare for and recover from crises;

Prevention rather than cure wherever possible: resilience-building spans the whole risk cycle so we must focus effort across the cycle, particularly before crises happen; and

Resilience is a ‘whole of society’ endeavour: so we must be more transparent and empower everyone to make a contribution.

Work is already underway across Government to deliver on these principles and act on lessons from recent crises, but the framework outlines our further ambition on priorities such as:

Becoming more transparent on the risks we face so that businesses, charities, individuals and all levels of Government can prepare.

Protecting the most vulnerable in our communities and helping responders to target support effectively before, during, and after emergencies.

Strengthening accountability on resilience within Government and externally, including through an annual statement to Parliament on civil contingency risk and resilience.

Ensuring that local resilience forums have the resources, capacity, information, and capability needed to plan for and respond to the risks that we face.

Incentivising and supporting businesses, including operators of Critical National Infrastructure, to strengthen their resilience to real world risks.

Implementation of the proposals in the framework has already started. We have already made changes at the centre of Government to strengthen our approach to long-term resilience and short-term crisis management, and to embed a culture of resilience in all Government Departments. We have refreshed the classified national security risk assessment and will update the public version, the national risk register, in the new year.

The Prime Minister has approved a new sub-committee of the National Security Council on resilience which I will chair. I look forward to establishing the committee in the new year, when the terms of reference and membership will be published in the usual way.

I have requested that a copy of the resilience framework be deposited in the Libraries of the Houses of Parliament.

The interview with Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on 6 November 2022.

LAURA KUENSSBERG

[Asked about the private messages sent by Gavin Williamson to Wendy Morton, the Chief Whip and whether they were acceptable].

OLIVER DOWDEN

No, it’s not. These were sent in the heat of the moment at a very difficult time. Gavin accepts that he shouldn’t have said these things, that he regrets it and we should all treat each other with respect and courtesy and that was not the case.

LAURA KUENSSBERG

[Asked why Rishi Sunak said his Government would have the highest integrity, but yet he appointed Gavin Williamson knowing that there as

OLIVER DOWDEN

Well, it was no secret that Gavin, and some others, didn’t enjoy a good relationship with the Chief Whip at the time. It was not the case, though, that the Prime Minister saw the detail. The complaint itself is ongoing and I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to prejudge that and obviously it has to be treated with confidentiality.

LAURA KUENSSBERG

[Said that we’ve seen the texts, there’s no dispute about it, why would viewers think a big investigation is needed?]

OLIVER DOWDEN

Well, on the facts of that that exchange, as I said, to you, that’s not acceptable. He shouldn’t have said it. He has said that he regrets doing so. He has given some context, which was that this was at the time of heightened frustration with him as a backbencher and the chief whip.

LAURA KUENSSBERG

[Asked if people can use language like that just because they’re in a bad mood?]

OLIVER DOWDEN

This is not acceptable, however, there is this complaints process ongoing and it was not the case that the Prime Minister had seen this exchange.

LAURA KUENSSBERG

[Stated that there would be no consequences for Gavin Williamson?]

OLIVER DOWDEN

This is ongoing and I don’t think you can say we’re going to have a complaints process and then have a minister come on this show and start to prejudge that. What is right for for me to say is that this is not acceptable, that is what Gavin himself has accepted.

The speech made by Oliver Dowden, the Chairman of the Conservative Party, in Blackpool on 18 March 2022.

Well isn’t it fantastic to be back in Blackpool!

Our first conference here for fifteen years.

It was here in 1946 that Anthony Eden first spoke of the ‘property owning democracy.’

It was here in 1975 that Margaret Thatcher first spoke as our party leader.

And then again in 1979 for the first time as our Prime Minister.

Conservative memories made.

Conservative missions defined.

And it’s a mark of what our party has achieved that we can proudly say for the first time since 1997:

This town now has two Conservative MPs!

Paul Maynard and Scott Benton are working with the government to transform a place failed by Labour

the party that left this town behind for decades.

And like hardworking Conservatives across the country they’re bringing growth, prosperity and opportunity.

A new Town Deal for Blackpool worth tens of millions of pounds.

Making good on our promises and getting on with the job.

That is our mission. I’m proud to be bringing Party Conference back to its spiritual home and bringing millions to the local economy.

When Conservatives say we back business, we deliver.

So, to everyone who made this happen: thank you!

Of all the moments of history our party has made in Blackpool,

the one I want to focus on today is Margaret Thatcher’s speech here in October 1989.

As the Iron Curtain was about to lift she stood here and told the Winter Gardens:

‘The torch of freedom that is now the symbol of our Party

became the beacon that has shed its light

across the Iron Curtain into the East.

Today that beacon shines more strongly

than at any time this century.’

Conference in March 2022 we must ask this:

Does the torch of freedom shine as strongly in Europe today?

Could Mrs Thatcher have foreseen that the Conservative Party would meet here in Blackpool more than thirty years later,

with the precious freedom of Europe

once again under threat from Russia?

A generation of Conservatives understood the threat of tyranny and their opposition to it defined their Conservatism.

So whilst much has changed about our party, this much remains the same:

It is Conservatives who always carry the torch of freedom.

And once again it is a Conservative Prime Minister who is leading the world’s response to the crisis in Ukraine.

We were the first European country to arm Ukraine with lethal aid.

We have imposed the biggest package of sanctions in the history of the United Kingdom.

And we are the largest donor of humanitarian aid.

As I walk with my children through the calm suburbia of Hertfordshire, its values so derided by the left,

I actually reflect on the great fortune we have to live in a nation defined by stability, security… and, yes, Conservatism.

For me, the privet hedges of suburbia are the privet hedges of a free people.

And I will make it my mission as Chairman to defend those values and those freedoms.

Right now, I am proud that Conservatives, like so many Britons up and down the country are playing their part to support the people of Ukraine in their hour of need.

Donating what they can, preparing their spare rooms, and organising their communities to give the brave Ukranians the warmest of welcomes.

Just as 50 years ago this October, the British people under a conservative government welcomed tens of thousands of Ugandan Asians fleeing Idi Amin’s brutal dictatorship.

And half a century later, our nation reaps the rewards with the prosperity they have generated and the public service they have freely given.

Dolar Popat, Mohammed Sheikh and Jitesh Gadhia are now Conservative peers in the House of Lords.

Shailesh Vara is in the House of Commons.

And our Home Secretary Priti Patel is part of the most diverse Cabinet in history.

Now this government has relentlessly focused on dealing with the Ukraine crisis.

But we must be just as relentless in dealing with its longer term consequences.

We must confront the fact that the combination of Covid and the Ukraine crisis are placing significant pressure on inflation and the cost of living.

We need to level with the British people about the causes of this and demonstrate the same resolve in dealing with it as we did with breaking the Brexit deadlock, as we did with investing in our game changing vaccine, and as we did in reopening our economy.

And we must confront the mistakes of the past.

Today we face Russian aggression, hampered by our lack of energy independence.

Our reliance today on Russian oil and gas was a course set by Labour governments who neglected to invest in new nuclear power.

Ed Miliband spent 10 years blocking it, when we could now be relying on it.

So it falls to the Conservatives to deliver energy independence for the first time in a generation.

Phasing out the import of Russian oil by the end of the year, exploring options to end our import of Russian gas.

Of course that means investing massively in our offshore wind capacity and other renewables; but it must also mean developing new nuclear projects, and re-incentivising new oil and gas exploration in this country as we transition.

Because the British people want to see a bit of conservative pragmatism, not net zero dogma.

We are conservatives.

We exist to conserve.

We will get to net zero.

We will save the planet.

We just don’t want Vladimir Putin taking it over while we are doing it.

And we know the alternative.

Next week marks two years of Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader.

And in that time he has really managed to stamp his personality on his party:
dull, uninspiring and bereft of ideas.

Some in his party believe that he is not “real Labour”.

Well, I can see what they mean.

Certainly he has more faith than any Liberal Democrat that Ed Davey is the path to government.

But let’s not be complacent about the threat that Starmer’s party still poses.

Let’s remind people of his sincerity in campaigning to have Jeremy Corbyn – that NATO opposing Putin apologist – installed as the nation’s Prime Minister.

And let us thank Boris Johnson for making sure that fate never befell our nation.

But the danger has not passed.

The Corbynistas are still there.

Starmer can’t resist kowtowing to the cancel culture brigade because his base are the cancel culture brigade.

He’s frightened to defend women’s rights or to protect our heritage from vandals because he fears he would then be cancelled.

He won’t argue against state handouts because his Party don’t believe in rolling back the vast Covid state at all.

And he can’t even get his MPs to vote for measures to stop self-righteous activists blocking roads because the gluers and lockers-on are his own Labour councillors!

Starmer would have left us in Brexit limbo

He would have left us in the European Medicines Agency.

And he would have left us in lockdown.

And that is why we cannot let them into office.

I’ve had the pleasure of fighting many elections, both inside and outside the party machine.

And you know as well I do that it’s never been plain sailing.

Of course we face a tough path through the locals and onto the next General Election.

We will be seeking a fifth Conservative win.

A feat never achieved before.

And the challenge starts this May.

Thanks to your hard work, we go in defending results that defied expectations in 2017 and 2018.

But at a time when people are worrying about the cost of living we need to be reminding people that the best way to tackle the cost of living locally

is to elect Conservative councils that cost less and deliver more.

And it is that message: delivery today, delivery tomorrow, and delivery the day after

that will carry us through the Local Elections and onto the General Election

And when that General Election comes, it’s going to look much more like the campaign of 2015 than that of 2019.

So we’re going to have to fight this one seat by seat, promise delivered by promise delivered, doorstep by doorstep.

And from May, we will begin our two year election campaign with the launch of our target seat strategy, building on the experience of the 40:40 campaign in 2015, building capacity, developing profiles, and framing the choice.

And to implement this, we have a great team:

I’ve appointed Tony Lee as our new director of campaigning

the man who masterminded Andy Street’s campaign.

I’ve recruited more than a dozen new campaign managers embedded across the country and working in critical defence areas today.

And I’ve just opened our new Leeds HQ.

Which means that when people call to speak to Conservative central office, the next question we’ll ask is “which one?”

But we all know that people matter more than the party machine.

And that’s why we need to attract the very best candidates.

Our diversity challenge is not some leftie tick box exercise that dumps people into one category or another.

It’s our way of finding talent from all over the country and from all walks of life.

Our new candidates must match the new conservative party.

The Party of Darlington and Doncaster –

as well as Devon and Dorset.

The party of mill towns and mining towns –

as well as the metropolis.

So today I’m announcing that we are reopening the candidates list for the next General Election with a big, open call for candidates.

We don’t mind what job you do, what you look like, how old you are or where you are from.

We’re just looking for people with real political conviction who instinctively share conservative values.

We’re looking for people with judgement, with integrity, and with wide ranging life experiences.

And for the first time, candidates will be put through a new process, a process that matches the best in class from organisations and businesses around the world to give us the most representative and best candidates we’ve ever had.

Let us contrast that depth and breadth of our talent against the out of touch Islington elites of the modern Labour Party.

I’m proud to be a comprehensively educated boy from Watford who now gets to chair the Conservative Party.

I’m proud to be the son of a factory worker who gets to sit around the Cabinet table.

I’m proud to represent a constituency where people get up early each day and work hard to provide for themselves and their families.

And I’m proud of our party.

A party with men and women from all walks of life, bound by common conservative values who believe in our country, our history, our traditions and the great role we have played in the world.

Those are the values of the British people.

They are the values of the Conservative Party.

Our instincts are their instincts.

Our values are their values.

Blackpool conferences have been the launchpad for many Conservative election victories.

So let’s make today the start of yet another great journey.

Let’s get on with the job.

The speech made by Oliver Dowden, the Party Chairman, on 3 October 2021.

Well Conference – doesn’t it feel fantastic for us to be back at a real Conservative Party conference again?

I know that the wonders of modern technology helped us to stay connected during the darkest days of the covid pandemic…

…but man cannot live by Zoom alone and there’s really no substitute to being here.

Gathered together for the first time since Boris Johnson led us to …

A historic…

General election…

Landslide!

Thanks to all of you who made it happen.

And to my brilliant predecessors James Cleverly and Amanda Milling.
‍

A DECENT PARTY

For me this is a very special moment.

I grew up in the Conservative Party.

I was a member of staff of the Conservative Party.

And today I am truly honoured to be the new Chairman of the Conservative Party.

I’ll tell you why.

Not just because we’re the oldest and most successful political party in the democratic world.

Not just because we have led this country through some of the most significant events in its history.

Not even because we have developed policies that have spread prosperity to millions of people.

It’s because I know, and you know, that this is a fundamentally decent party.

You might not always hear it from our opponents, but I see it every single day.

Our councillors, who tirelessly serve their communities.

The many thousands of members and volunteers, for whom support for our party is just one part of their contribution to civic life.

From fundraising for hospices…

…to running dementia cafes

…to serving as school governors.

…and joining the army of covid volunteers in our hour of need.

You are the backbone of our country.

And our service is shaped by our values.

We believe that everyone deserves the best start in life.

That means a decent education like the one I received at my local state school.

That means decent healthcare, free at the point of use, which my family and I have benefited from time and again, thanks to our NHS.

That means decent opportunities to live and work in safe, pleasant communities.
‍

A MODERATE PARTY

The Conservative Party I believe in is moderate, pragmatic and open.

We hold true to our values but we are never dogmatic about how we apply them.
‍

A PARTY THAT DELIVERS

To be an effective party of government we have to translate these values into policies and deliver them.

Put simply – we have to get on with the job.

We are doing that with education where the bold reforms initiated by Michael Gove have transformed our schools…

…and where Nadhim Zahawi, a vaccine programme hero, will deliver the outstanding schools our children deserve.

We are doing it with health where we have chosen to massively invest in better hospitals, more doctors and more nurses.

The vaccine programme showed what we can achieve in an emergency.

But responsible government also demands that we tackle and resolve long term, ingrained problems.

Ones that previous administrations have put to the side as too difficult.

Fortunately, we have a Prime Minister who is not afraid to be bold.

That’s why this government has grasped the nettle of delivering sustainable funding for our social care system.

This Conservative Government will at last remove people’s fear of having their own home sold from under them.

Because of the cruelty of the lottery of dementia.

But Conference, unlike some other parties, we as Conservatives know that first class public services can only be paid for by a strong economy and free enterprise.

And it’s our good fortune that in Rishi Sunak we have a world class Chancellor to guide us through tough times to that better future.

• Britain now has the fastest growth in the G7,

• Unemployment has fallen for seven consecutive months,
‍
• Wages are rising.

• Our entrepreneurs and innovators are creating more billion dollar tech firms than France and Germany combined.

All underpinned by that most basic Conservative instinct, sound public finances and living within our means.

A Conservative government delivering on the people’s priorities.
‍

A PARTY THAT LISTENS

Of course, no government is perfect.

But I’d like to think that at least we have the wisdom to listen to people and the humility to learn how we can do better.

That’s why we are looking again at our planning reforms.

Our opponents – particularly the Liberal Democrats – have shamelessly stoked fears that changing the planning system will lead to ugly and disproportionate development.

I don’t believe that – and I can tell you that if we were to rip up controls then my constituents in Hertsmere would have a thing or two to say about it.

But it’s no good saying to voters in places like Chesham & Amersham “Trust me – I’m a politician.”

Yes, Britain’s growing population must have new houses but it’s clear that additional safeguards are needed.

We need to set out in law measures to protect our towns, villages and precious countryside from being despoiled by ugly development.

Watch this space.

 

A TOLERANT PARTY

But, Conference, questions about our values run deeper than that.

Do we believe at heart ours is a decent country?

A country of rule of law, democracy, and freedom.

Where people who work hard and do the right thing can get on in life, and provide for themselves, their family, and their community.

Where genuine problems and injustices are tackled with energy and good faith.

My answer, and I know your answer, is a resounding yes…

That is why I am so saddened by a small but very vocal group that profoundly disagrees.

They see a different Britain…

…dominated by privilege and oppression.

That should view its values and history with shame.

A mantra that results in bullying and haranguing of individuals, elected representatives, and public institutions.

So called cancel culture.

And we’ve all seen this simplistic narrative in action.

Divisions are heightened, statues torn down, and history rewritten.

But, Conference, I’m afraid it’s even worse than that.

Anyone who dares resist this argument – anyone who objects to this woke aggression – is branded as instigating culture wars!

Like our Equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch, who has suffered relentless abuse from the left.

Kemi, we are with you.

Because in my previous role I saw first-hand the damage those campaigns can do to our institutions.

That is why we must be robust in empowering them to stand up to this bullying.

To defend the interests of taxpayers who ultimately fund them.

And to keep our national heroes like Nelson, Gladstone and Churchill in the places of honour they deserve.

 

LABOUR

Now, you might imagine that a responsible opposition party would be only too keen to demonstrate to the British people that it is on their side against this argument.

In fact, I’m afraid the opposite is true.

Today’s Labour Party has got woke running through it like a stick of Brighton rock.

Labour’s problems go far wider and deeper than the Jeremy Corbyn faction.

To prosper in the Labour Party you must at some level endorse this world view.

Previous generations of Labour leaders, activists and voters would look in dismay at what Labour has become.

It used to be the party of the workers, proud, practical and patriotic.

Men like my grandfather, Harry Dowden.

‘Red Harry’, as he was known, worked in the rail yards of north London and was a trade union rep for the National Union of Railwaymen.

He was a Labour man through and through.

His world view was forged by the Great Depression and the war.

But he was also a patriot who loved Shakespeare and reading about history.

If you want to know why Labour lost the last general election so badly, it’s because so many of the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of people like Harry Dowden in communities up and down the country believe that Labour has turned its back on them.
‍

THE CONTRAST

But the difference between our parties is also to be found in our tolerance.

A recent study found that half of Labour supporters would think badly of friends or family voting Conservative.

But only one in seven Conservative voters said the same thing about a loved one voting Labour.

It’s so much easier to get along with people when you believe they at least have good intentions even if they’re profoundly wrong.

It’s much harder if you are so puffed up with moral certainty that you think those you disagree with you are wicked…

…or, dare I say it Conference, scum.

Another difference is that we respect democracy.

When we lose, we take it on the chin, regroup and move on.

In 2016 we had a momentous referendum in which Britain voted to leave the EU.

As it happens, I was on the losing side, but it never crossed my mind for a moment to dispute the result.

Instead I vowed to do my bit to deliver Brexit.

I just wish people like Keir Starmer had done the same.

And at this conference you will hear different viewpoints debated in a civilised way.

Contrast that with last week in Brighton when a Labour MP, Rosie Duffield, feared to attend her own party conference because she dared to dissent.

Another Labour figure who I suspect didn’t make it to Brighton is Councillor Theresa Norton.

Instead she was arrested four times as a leading figure in the blocking of motorways by climate protesters.

Millions of ordinary Brits, like all of us, care deeply about tackling climate change,

But when they are working hard to rebuild their livelihoods after covid, the last thing needed…

…is arrogant Labour activists blocking their access to homes, workplaces and hospitals.

Fortunately our new policing bill will curb these irresponsible antics.
‍

PLEDGE

But let me end with this pledge.

To you, my fellow Conservatives.

The Prime Minister gave me this job so I could be your voice:

Around the Cabinet table,

In the media,

At the campaigning coalface.

I’m here to represent you.

I’m also here to get our Party machine ready for the next election, whenever it comes.

We’re already:

…Hiring great new staff to build the team to win.

…Recruiting 50 campaign managers – right now.

…Beefing up by-election capability.

…Mapping battlegrounds.

…Harnessing the most advanced digital and data techniques from around the world.

We know that we can only win with your hard work and support.

And we’ll give you best possible tools for victory.

And to pay for all this?

I’ll be working with the man who delivered the firepower for the last general election…

…my brilliant co-Chair Ben Elliot.‍

PERORATION

We’ll do it not just for our party, but for our country.

That is the Britain that I know, and I grew up in.

It’s the same Britain that is admired around the world.

A country where if you work hard, you can get on and provide for your family and your community.

Our values are the values of this nation.

Moderate decent values translated by our Prime Minister and our government into a programme that delivers for Britain.

Let’s get on with the job.