Full text: George Osborne’s 2015 Conservative conference speech

Let me tell you how proud I am to stand before you the first Conservative Chancellor in a Conservative Government to address a Conservative Conference in eighteen years.

If I’d told you twelve months ago that the Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood was going to come onto this stage and speak in our economy debate you’d have called security.

Andrea, your win capped off a night that no-one here will ever forget.

Can you all remember where you were when that exit poll came through?

I certainly can.

I was just a few miles away from here, waiting to go to my count at the Macclesfield leisure centre.

I was completely calm.

No I wasn’t.

I was completely nervous.

Unable to sit down.

Unable to stand still.

I was pacing around.

And then a moment of calm did descend.

I realised there was absolutely nothing more I could do.

I was powerless.

Completely powerless in the face of the real power of the British people.