Cameron attacks ‘big government’
By George Parker in Manchester
Published: October 8 2009 16:04 | Last updated: October 8 2009 20:40
David Cameron on Thursday blamed Britain’s economic crisis on a Labour-led era of “big government”, in a sombre and sometimes emotional speech aimed at convincing the nation he is a prime minister in waiting.
Mr Cameron warned that he was about to turn off the tap on public spending, and caused concern to some in the City when he said that “sometime soon” the country would have to stop “printing money” if it wanted to head off inflation.
The Conservative leader’s speech attempted to avoid any sense of hubris, but party activists left Manchester convinced that Mr Cameron could be implementing his “austerity” programme from Downing Street within seven months.
It was a speech that saw Mr Cameron make an audacious incursion into Labour territory – claiming to be the champion of the nation’s poor – in an echo of Tony Blair’s attempt in 1997 to colonise the middle ground of politics.
“Who made the poorest poorer?” he asked. “Who left youth unemployment higher? Who made inequality greater? No, not the wicked Tories – you, Labour, did this to our society.”
But the speech’s main purpose was to establish the principles and character of a politician who knows he has not yet won the hearts of the British public.
Although his grand themes were of a smaller state and “responsibility”, it was his references to the death of his son, Ivan, that will resonate most strongly through television and the tabloid press.
Depicted by Labour as a privileged elitist out of touch with modern Britain, Mr Cameron spoke of arriving at an NHS hospital carrying his child in his arms in the middle of the night.
The Conservative party
As the general election looms the Conservatives prepare for power
His voice cracking with emotion, he said he had considered giving up in politics after his son died: “It’s like the world has stopped turning and the clocks have stopped ticking.”
The Tory leader said the expansion of the state had undermined responsibility in society, suggesting that the private sector, civil society and families should all take a bigger role in delivering social progress.
Mr Cameron blamed “big government” for running up huge debts, refuting Gordon Brown’s claims the economic crisis was a result of a ”bankrupt” Conservative passion for the free market.
His plan to tackle the “debt crisis” – including his call for an early end to quantitative easing – caused some unease, with Alistair Darling, chancellor, claiming: “If we stopped supporting the economy now, it would crash.”
Senior Tory sees ‘two years of pain’
David Blanchflower, who left the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee in May, said Mr Cameron’s speech on Thursday was “bizarre” and if put into practice could tip the UK into a “depression”. Shamik Dhar, a former Bank of England economist, said “at best this is wrong and at worst downright dangerous”.
Labour also claimed Mr Cameron did not have the policies to back up his accusation, levelled at Gordon Brown: “It falls to the modern Conservative party to fight for the poorest who have you have let down.”
The Tory leader’s speech won a warm but not ecstatic ovation: aides said it was pared down to avoid theatricality and jokes to reflect the gravity of the situation facing the country.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009.
The Conservative leader’s speech attempted to avoid any sense of hubris, but party activists left Manchester convinced that Mr Cameron could be implementing his “austerity” programme from Downing Street within seven months.
It was a speech that saw Mr Cameron make an audacious incursion into Labour territory – claiming to be the champion of the nation’s poor – in an echo of Tony Blair’s attempt in 1997 to colonise the middle ground of politics.
“Who made the poorest poorer?” he asked. “Who left youth unemployment higher? Who made inequality greater? No, not the wicked Tories – you, Labour, did this to our society.”
But the speech’s main purpose was to establish the principles and character of a politician who knows he has not yet won the hearts of the British public.
Although his grand themes were of a smaller state and “responsibility”, it was his references to the death of his son, Ivan, that will resonate most strongly through television and the tabloid press.
Depicted by Labour as a privileged elitist out of touch with modern Britain, Mr Cameron spoke of arriving at an NHS hospital carrying his child in his arms in the middle of the night.
As the general election looms the Conservatives prepare for power
His voice cracking with emotion, he said he had considered giving up in politics after his son died: “It’s like the world has stopped turning and the clocks have stopped ticking.”
The Tory leader said the expansion of the state had undermined responsibility in society, suggesting that the private sector, civil society and families should all take a bigger role in delivering social progress.
Mr Cameron blamed “big government” for running up huge debts, refuting Gordon Brown’s claims the economic crisis was a result of a ”bankrupt” Conservative passion for the free market.
His plan to tackle the “debt crisis” – including his call for an early end to quantitative easing – caused some unease, with Alistair Darling, chancellor, claiming: “If we stopped supporting the economy now, it would crash.”
David Blanchflower, who left the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee in May, said Mr Cameron’s speech on Thursday was “bizarre” and if put into practice could tip the UK into a “depression”. Shamik Dhar, a former Bank of England economist, said “at best this is wrong and at worst downright dangerous”.
Labour also claimed Mr Cameron did not have the policies to back up his accusation, levelled at Gordon Brown: “It falls to the modern Conservative party to fight for the poorest who have you have let down.”
The Tory leader’s speech won a warm but not ecstatic ovation: aides said it was pared down to avoid theatricality and jokes to reflect the gravity of the situation facing the country.