Conservative Party Conference 2017
Daily Summary – Day 4
The leader’s speech is always the focal point of a conference. However interesting the fringe events, however powerful the speeches by ministers and other party figures, it is the leader’s speech that will lead the news bulletins, fill the front pages, and dominate discussion for years to come. It should be memorable – perhaps by setting out a bold new vision, perhaps by introducing a range of transformative policies. When the party leader is the Prime Minister, all these expectations are heightened. When that Prime Minister has just had a bruising general election campaign, and is involved in possibly the most serious international negotiations the country has been in for decades, their performance will really be under the microscope. Today’s speech was certainly memorable. Alas for Theresa May, it will not be remembered for what she said but for what happened. One mishap could perhaps be overcome, but not three. First, May was interrupted by prankster Lee Nelson proffering a P45 from Boris Johnson, then she started to cough and lose her voice, and finally letters started to fall off the conference backdrop. Her message was being obliterated, metaphorically and literally. This provoked sympathy from conference delegates, with long rounds of applause to enable her to regain her voice between passages. She said that ‘the test of a leader is how you respond when tough times come upon you.’ Perhaps by keeping calm and carrying on through adversity, May showed her party that she has passed that test. Others might suggest that a leader should not be the object of sympathy.
But what did she have to say? She started, simply enough, with an apology for the election result and her thanks to Conservative campaigners for the part they played. Many pundits had been wondering how she might give the conference red meat on Brexit, whilst not alienating her negotiating partners. The answer: it occupied only a small section of the speech, which instead focused on domestic matters. Getting the negotiations right was the Government’s ‘first and most important duty’ May said, although she made clear that the Government was preparing for ‘every eventuality’. Instead, her key theme was the ‘British Dream’ – a phrase she used 22 times. What did she mean by this? She told the audience that it was a ‘simple promise… that each new generation in our country should be able to build a better future.’ She linked it to her own family background – her grandmother was a lady’s maid, whose grandchildren include three professors and a Prime Minister. It is, therefore, a dream of improvement which to ‘too many… feels out of reach’.
In policy terms, announcements included an independent review of the provision of mental health services, tackling the housing crisis through providing £2bn for councils and housing associations and providing ‘a new generation of council houses’, a cap on energy bills, and a review of student fees and loans. The problem for May is that tackling these issues adds legitimacy to the opposition’s criticism of her Government, whilst her solutions look paltry in comparison to those put forward by Labour. Reacting to Jeremy Corbyn’s speech, she spoke of her belief in the free market, calling it ‘the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created’. She directly criticised Corbyn’s policies, parodying his supporters’ chant with the line: ‘No… Jeremy Corbyn.’ The problem for May is that whilst many of these problems are those she identified in her speech upon becoming Prime Minister, the newly-energised Labour Party has bigger, bolder promises, to which all the Prime Minister could say was ‘that you can’t get something for nothing‘. Concluding the speech, she focussed on her and her party’s ‘duty’ to ‘renew the British Dream.’ The real test for Theresa May will be whether she manages to live up to the challenge she has set herself.
Daily Summary – Day 3
Day three of the conference consisted of speeches from the remainder of the key cabinet ministers.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt was the first to speak this morning, talking about increasing the number of nurses in training by 25%, introducing more flexible hours and claiming that Corbyn and McDonell’s economic policies would “bring our NHS to its knees”.
Justice Secretary David Lidington spoke next, announcing a new initiative to stop drones being used to smuggle drugs and other items into prisons. He also announced the creation of a New Futures Network to help offenders find work when they leave prison. He used his platform to criticise Labour for refusing to condemn the prospect of unions holding illegal strikes.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the conference that the government will ban the sale of acids to anyone under the age of 18, and promised to make it illegal to carry acid in a public place without a valid reason. She also announced investment in internet technology that will remove images of children being abused and revealed plans to stamp down on the spread of knives via internet shops.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox called for the UK to be positive about its trading prospects when the country leaves the EU.
Brexit Secretary David Davis claimed that he was certain he can reach a deal on the rights of EU nationals in the Brexit talks “soon”. Davis also said that the UK can become “more international, not less” and said that the British can still be “good Europeans” after Brexit.
International Development Secretary Priti Patel announced an overhaul of the way aid contracts are awarded, encouraging the private sector to work with DfID to end the practice of “fat cats profiteering from the aid budget”.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the conference that the government would continue to increase defence spending.
The main event today was Boris Johnson’s ‘Let the Lion Roar’ speech. He gave an upbeat vision of Brexit, calling upon the country to be ‘bold’ and seize opportunities.
Daily Summary – Day 2
The second day of the Conservative conference consisted of speeches from key figures within the cabinet. Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke announced that universal credit rollout will go ahead despite calls from MPs within his own party to delay put this policy on hold because of the financial difficulties facing people arising from the transition from weekly or fortnightly to monthly payments. He did, however, announce that fresh guidance will be issued to benefit offices to ensure more people are offered advance payments.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond used his speech to mount a defence of free market economics, which he claimed was coming under assault from Jeremy Corbyn. He described the Labour leader and his shadow chancellor John McDonnell as “dinosaurs who had broken out of their glass cases”. Hammond also said his party must address concerns over pressure on living standards and housing costs, and announced £300m for rail improvements in the North of England.
Culture Secretary Karen Bradley announced that the government would be publishing an internet safety green paper next week. She said that she wanted Britain to be the safest place in the world to go online. This strategy will propose a code of conduct for social media companies, encouraging them to ensure that safety is considered from the start when new products are designed. The strategy also aims to promote online safety education in schools.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove used his speech to announce a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles for England, increase penalties for animal cruelty, and stated that Brexit would allow Britain to develop better alternatives to the common fisheries policy and the common agricultural policy. Gove came under controversy earlier on in the day for comments made during a fringe event, in which he declared that Brexit will allow Britain to sell more pig’s ears to China as they are a popular delicacy over there.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told the conference that the government would extend “smart ticketing” (i.e. non-paper tickets) across most of the rail network by the end of the year and proud to be the Transport Secretary who committed to a third runway at Heathrow.
Elsewhere, an event featuring Jacob Rees-Mogg descended into chaos after protesters mobbed the high-profile backbencher. Demonstrators were holding up placards chanting “Tories out” at the packed meeting on Brexit.
Daily Summary – Day 1
The first day of Conservative conference was opened by Sir Patrick McLoughlin, the party’s chair. Despite the poor general election results, he hailed successes in local elections, the fact that the party had increased its share of the vote for the fifth election in a row, and the party’s record in Government, which means ‘more people in work’. This theme of defending the party’s record was continued by Damian Green, the newly-anointed First Secretary of State. He branded Labour the ‘nasty party’ and ‘Britain’s biggest purveyor of fake news’, comparing Labour’s portrayal of the Conservatives as ‘unfeeling’ with the party’s record on increased employment and increased levels of disadvantaged children attending university.
Continuing the education theme, Justine Greening the Secretary of State for Education announced measures to increase teacher retention. These include reimbursing student loans for science and modern foreign language teachers, new bursaries for maths teachers and £6m for maths hubs, £30m for schools which struggle to recruit and keep teachers, and a new network of English hubs, starting in the north. The next cabinet minister to address conference was Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who had a range of announcements on housing to make. All landlords will have to join an ombudsman scheme, all lettings agents will be regulated, incentives will be offered to landlords with longer-term tenancies, and a consultation will be launched on creating a new housing court. He described the increasing difficulty of affording home ownership as ‘a national outrage’ and directly attributed Corbyn’s success to the Government’s ‘failure on housing’.
The stage was then given to the devolved nations for a session entitled ‘Strengthening the Union between all our citizens’. First on was Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson. Jokingly, she called Manchester ‘the Southern powerhouse’ and compared the current success of Corbyn’s Labour Party to Sturgeon’s SNP. She said that the ‘Corbyn bubble’ could ‘burst’ if the Tories worked hard. To do this, she argued that the Tories needed to embody social mobility, called for the party to ‘embrace difference and debate’, and to unite to fight for the future of the union. Describing the Conservatives as the ‘the party of devolution’, she called for the country to be less ‘London-centric’. She was followed by James Brokenshire, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, who continued the pro-union theme, celebrated growth in the Northern Irish economy, and called on the Northern Irish political parties to reach agreement. Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives echoed calls for a united Conservative Party, and cited the threat posed by Jeremy Corbyn, who he said was making promises he couldn’t keep.
Beyond the conference’s secure zone, the city centre was dominated by demonstrators of two sorts. The People’s Assembly Against Austerity has chosen to host a parallel series of events under the banner ‘Take Back Manchester’, and anti-Brexit protestors have also converged on the city, with Lib Dem leader Vince Cable alongside more esoteric attractions, including a singing Boris Johnson impersonator.
