There were three big themes to David Cameron’s speech. The first was that decline is not inevitable, an attempt to tackle the mood of pessimism that is gripping the nation. The second was an attempt to reassert the Conservatives’ compassionate credentials, hence the emphasis on how the Liberal Democrats would have cut the NHS and the section explaining why conservatives should support gay marriage. The third was leadership, Cameron’s biggest advantage over the other party leaders.
The attack on the idea of Britain’s decline being inevitable was powerful in places. But because Cameron has a non-ideological approach to growth it is hard for him to make a stirring argument about how the economy can be revived.
Perhaps, the most powerful section of the speech was Cameron’s reassertion of the Tories’ claims to be the party of the poor: “So who’s going to lift the poorest up? Who’s going to get our young people back to work? Who’s going to create a more equal society? No, not you, the self-righteous Labour Party.
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