This guest post has been contributed by Julian Bray who writes on his Duckhouse blog.  Over to you Julian

FROM: THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY CENTRAL OFFICE

The Prime Minister
10, Downing Street
London, SW1A 2AA

3 February 2010

Dear Mr Brown

At Prime Minister’s Questions today, you told the House of Commons that you knew nothing
about the secret fund, worth a reported £50,000, which was held by the Labour Party for your benefit. When asked why you did not declare this on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests (RMFI), you said specifically: ‘I know nothing about what he [the questioner] is talking about.’

This simply cannot be true.

It is clear from Peter Watt, the Labour Party’s former General Secretary, that you were the beneficiary of a secret fund held by the Labour Party. He has said explicitly:

‘Before becoming Prime Minister, Gordon went to some lengths to insulate himself and the Treasury from our financial troubles, setting up his own personal pot of cash at party HQ. This was money we could not dip into, since it was set aside for the Chancellor’s own pet projects. Murray Elder helped secure donations from the Chancellor’s supporters’ (Inside Out, January 2010, page 105).

He went on to claim that it may have been used to finance your ‘long-term campaign to become party leader’ (Inside Out, Peter Watt, 2010, page 105).

Mr Watt’s assertions were widely reported. Indeed, across several pages in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Watt claimed that you used ‘up to £50,000-a-year of Labour money to pay for private polling’ (Mail on Sunday, 17 January 2010).

The allegations were explicitly confirmed as truthful by a Labour official who said in the same article: ‘It [the fund] was funded through donations to the Party.’

In the light of these allegations, my colleague, Greg Hands MP, wrote to you more than two weeks ago, on 17 January, to query why you had failed to declare the fund properly the

Register of Members’ Financial Interests. This letter was publicised in several newspapers on 18 January.

As you did not respond, Greg Hands submitted a complaint to John Lyon, the Parliamentary Commissioner this week. I attach a copy of this complaint for your reference. Again, this complaint was reported.

Yesterday in a speech titled ‘Transforming Politics’, you said that you would ‘do all that is necessary to restore trust’ in politics and the conduct of MPs. If you wish to restore trust in politics, you should stop treating people like fools by claiming that you were unaware of this fund when all the evidence points to the contrary..

I therefore urge you to admit to this fund’s existence, apologise for misleading the House and co-operate with any inquiries that John Lyon may wish to make.

Yours sincerely,

Eric Pickles
Chairman, The Conservative Party
Member of Parliament for Brentwood and Ongar

About Julian:  Julian Bray is a broadcaster, moderator, speaker, journalist and lectures on leadership, company turnarounds, corporate and recession busting strategies, politics, aviation, travel and The City.

You know how South American Generals gain their ‘credibility, rank and titles’ well, it seems that now that corruption within British Politics has hit a new low.

Lord Mandelson, who once represented Hartlepool as an MP has just been granted a freeman of the town. His new title reads a full 45 words and is:

The Right Honourable Baron Mandelson of Foy in the county of Herefordshire and Hartlepool in the county of Durham, Lord President of the Council, First Secretary of State, and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and Honorary Freeman of the borough of Hartlepool.

If that wasn’t ridiculous enough there are grave doubts about the fairness in which he was granted the new title.

In a straight run-off Lord Mandelson would have been up against Isobel Wilson of the town’s Pansies Breast Cancer Support Group, Wendy McLoughlin MBE, 63, who chairs Hartlepool Families First for disabled children and sports presenter (locally-born) Jeff Stelling. But strange occurrences within the council ensured that any vote against Lord Mandelson would mean that one-out, all-out!

Previously, Hartlepool council has voted on each candidate individually for the honorary title of freeman. One councillor stated that the secret meeting headed up by the ruling Labour group which took place on 5th November was blatant emotional blackmail.

Labour group leader Jonathan Brash demanded a vote to couple Lord Mandelson’s name in with four other nominations for freeman and two for alderman, a total of seven.

The resulting vote was tied at 19-all, with 17 of those 19 votes in favour coming from Labour councillors, including Lord Mandelson’s former agent and close ally, Steve Wallace. The casting vote went to Carl Richardson, the chairman (Labour).

Councillors were then instructed to gain a two-thirds majority to grant all 7 nominations the title, if any attempt to block Lord Mandelson was undertaken, they would have to block popular Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling.

A total of 32 votes were cast which, under the two-thirds majority rule, meant 22 votes were needed to secure Lord Mandelson’s freeman title. The result was 22 to ten – with six abstentions.

LabourLost says: Lord Mandelson, you disgust me. Riding roughshod over genuine and good people that have actually done something for the community. Yet another example of the abuse of powers that is endemic within the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Here’s a thought as to how #labourlost integrity, yet again

A few days ago Ian Craig, the chief schools adjudicator, recommended a range of new penalties to be introduced to punish parents who break school admissions rules by giving false addresses, fibbing about their ‘real’ address and moving house just to personally gain from the postcode.

Fair enough, I can understand that. But who is it that’s behind this mandate?

None other than the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls MP who along with his wife Yvette Cooper MP according to the Telegraph’s MP’s expenses research ‘flipped’ their homes a number of times

After being elected to Parliament for the first time in 1997, Miss Cooper, now the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, designated a modest property in her constituency of Castleford, west Yorkshire, as her second home, and began claiming mortgage interest payments on her parliamentary allowances.

In May 2005, after Mr Balls was elected MP for Normanton, Miss Cooper “flipped” her second home to the family house she shared with her husband and their three children in south London. The couple both began claiming a half share of the £1,466 mortgage interest, a sum of £733 each compared with the £530 she had been paying in Yorkshire.

Two years later, in May 2007, the couple moved again, to a larger, £655,000 property in north London which they designated their second home. Their mortgage interest payments increased to just over £1,031 each.

They also put the bill for the £2,000 cost of removal vans and men on their parliamentary expenses.

…and just in case you thought they were hard up

Yvette Cooper

Job: Chief secretary to the Treasury

Salary: £141,866

Total second home claims

2004-05: £19,428

2005-06: £14,234

2006-07: £15,995

2007-08: £12,219

Ed Balls

Job: Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

Salary: £141,866

Total second home claims

2004-05: Not elected

2005-06: £13,618

2006-07: £15,979

2007-08: £12,219

I put it to you Mr and Mrs Balls, you potentially gave false addresses, fibbed about your ‘real’ address and moved house just to personally gain from the postcode.

You are no better than those you seek to suppress.

Previously published over at Parlez~me~’n~Tory

This afternoon David Cameron set out his new belief on the EU.

This explains why the ‘cast iron’ guarantee was not adopted and what we can expect from a Conservative Government with regards to Europe.

[Here is the speech in full]

Yesterday in Prague, the Czech Constitutional Court rejected the one remaining challenge to the Lisbon Treaty, and the President of the Czech Republic signed it.

The Lisbon Treaty has now been ratified by every one of the twenty seven member states of the European Union, and our campaign for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is therefore over.

Why? Because it is no longer a Treaty: it is being incorporated into the law of the European Union.

Next week, the new posts that the Lisbon Treaty creates – a President and a Foreign Minister – will be filled.

We cannot hold a referendum and magically make those posts – or the Lisbon Treaty itself – disappear, any more than we could hold a referendum to stop the sun rising in the morning.

I know, from the many public meetings I’ve held around the country, from the huge number of letters and emails that I receive, how much the people of this country will resent the fact that we cannot now have the referendum we were promised.

The decision to promise, and then deny, a referendum was taken by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The betrayal was backed and matched by the Liberal Democrats.

And I believe it ranks alongside the expenses scandal as one of the reasons that trust in politics has broken down.

Of course I wanted a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

I’ve argued for it, campaigned for it, put it front and centre in our European election campaign.

We have voted for it in Parliament.

I’ve challenged the Prime Minister about his broken promise at every opportunity.

And if the Treaty had not been ratified by every European government when we came to the election, we would have held a referendum on it.

But now it has been ratified.

And I always said that if this happened, I would set out immediately how a Conservative Government would respond.

So today, I want to speak directly to the British people.

I want to explain what a new Conservative government will do to protect Britain’s interests in Europe and salvage something from the mess that Labour will have left us.

And I want to speak to our European partners too, to set out clearly what they can expect from a Conservative government in Britain.

NEVER AGAIN

First, we will make sure that this never happens again.

Never again should it be possible for a British government to transfer power to the EU without the say of the British people.

If we win the next election, we will amend the European Communities Act 1972 to prohibit, by law, the transfer of power to the EU without a referendum.

And that will cover not just any future treaties like Lisbon, but any future attempt to take Britain into the euro.

We will give the British people a referendum lock to which only they should hold the key – a commitment very similar to that in Ireland.

This is a major constitutional development.

But I believe it is now the only way to reassure the British people that powers cannot be given away without their explicit approval in a referendum.

It is not politicians’ power to give away – it belongs to the people.

So at the General Election, we will challenge the other political parties to accept the referendum lock and pledge never to reverse it.

NO MADE-UP REFERENDUM

I recognise there are some who, now that we cannot have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, want a referendum on something else…anything else.

But I just don’t think it’s right to concoct some new pretext for a referendum simply to have one for the sake of it.

That wouldn’t survive serious scrutiny.

I don’t think a made-up referendum will get Britain anywhere.

For instance, what about a referendum asking for a mandate for our negotiating aims in Europe?

We would have just asked for that mandate in an election and received it.

Would we really want to turn round straight after an election, with the public finances in the state they are in and the economy as fragile as it is and ask the same question all over again?

A made-up referendum might make people feel better for five minutes but my job is to put together a plan that lasts five years, and I don’t think a phoney referendum should play any part in that.

Let me repeat: a Conservative government will guarantee a referendum if there is any attempt to transfer further powers from Britain to the EU.

But if we wasted everyone’s time and taxpayers’ money on a referendum that has no practical effect, I don’t think the British people would thank us for it.

SOVEREIGNTY

In any case, there is more we can do than simply promise a referendum lock on any future handover of power.

Take the sovereignty of our laws.

Because we have no written constitution, unlike many other EU countries, we have no explicit legal guarantee that the last word on our laws stays in Britain.

There is therefore a danger that, over time, our courts might come to regard ultimate authority as resting with the EU.

So as well as making sure that further power cannot be handed to the EU without a referendum, we will also introduce a new law, in the form of a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill, to make it clear that ultimate authority stays in this country, in our Parliament.

This is not about Westminster striking down individual items of EU legislation.

It is about an assurance that the final word on our laws is here in Britain.

It would simply put Britain on a par with Germany, where the German Constitutional Court has consistently upheld – including most recently on the Lisbon treaty – that ultimate authority lies with the bodies established by the German Constitution.

But people will rightly say that the Lisbon Treaty does not just transfer powers to Brussels today.

It allows further powers to be transferred in the future, because it contains a mechanism to abolish vetoes and transfer power without the need for a new Treaty.

We do not believe that any of these so-called ratchet clauses should be used to hand over more powers from Britain to the EU.

Furthermore, we would change the law so that any use of a ratchet clause by a future government would require full approval by Parliament.

These changes: the referendum lock, the Sovereignty Bill, stopping the use of ratchet clauses, all these changes can be put in place by our own Parliament.

They do not require the approval of our European partners – merely the sanction of the British people at the ballot box, which we will seek at the forthcoming General Election.

They will put in place real protection for our democracy – protections other countries have but which are missing here in Britain.

They would increase accountability, and they would ensure that the breach of trust committed by this Labour Government could never happen again.

Those two words – never again – will be on our leaflets, in our Manifesto: we will make sure that the British people remember who it was that broke their promise – Labour, and who it is that will stop this happening again – the Conservatives.

BRITISH GUARANTEES

But these measures are all about preventing problems in the future.

They don’t deal with the problems we are facing today, which will now be made worse by the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

In essence, these problems boil down to the steady and unaccountable intrusion of the European Union into almost every aspect of our lives.

A Conservative Government will address some of these problems by negotiating three specific guarantees with our European partners guarantees over powers that we believe should reside with Britain, not the EU.

First, social and employment legislation.

Of course, Britain used to have an opt-out from the Social Chapter: but Labour foolishly gave this up.

And today, too much EU legislation in this area is damaging both our economy and our public services.

So we will want to negotiate the return of Britain’s opt-out from social and employment legislation in those areas which have proved most damaging to our economy and public services for example the aspects of the Working Time Directive which are causing real problems in the NHS and the Fire Service.

The second British guarantee we will negotiate is over the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

We must be absolutely sure that this cannot be used by EU judges to re-interpret EU law affecting the UK.

Tony Blair claimed that his Government obtained an opt-out from the Charter.

But what he got – as the Government have now admitted – was simply a clarification of how it works in Britain.

We will want a complete opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The third area where we will negotiate for a return of powers is criminal justice.

We must be sure that the measures included in the Lisbon Treaty will not bring creeping control over our criminal justice system by EU judges.

We will want to prevent EU judges gaining steadily greater control over our criminal justice system by negotiating an arrangement which would protect it.

That will mean limiting the European Court of Justice’s jurisdiction over criminal law to its pre-Lisbon level, and ensuring that only British authorities can initiate criminal investigations in Britain.

I recognise, of course, that taking back power in these areas, or negotiating arrangements that suit the UK, is not something we can do unilaterally.

It means changing the rules of an institution of which we are a member – changing rules that Britain has signed up to.

If we want to make changes, we will need to do that through negotiation with our European partners, and we will need the agreement of all twenty seven member states.

I also recognise that these are highly complex areas, where we need to think through the practical details with great care.

William Hague is now leading detailed work to examine precisely what we will need to change, and, if we win the next election, his work will draw on the specialised legal advice which the Government has available to it, as well as the expertise of officials from the Foreign Office and other relevant departments.

But success in these negotiations will establish an extremely important principle: that European integration is not a one way street and that powers can be returned from the EU to its member countries, a principle that was envisaged in the Laeken Declaration nearly a decade ago.

Let me be clear. Our guarantees are essential, realistic and deliverable.

Essential, because we have identified the areas of the Lisbon Treaty that cause the deepest concern, and the ones with greatest potential to interfere with our democracy.

Realistic, because we will propose that these British guarantees are added as protocols to a future accession treaty – like the recently concluded Irish guarantees.

And deliverable, because we have chosen areas where the return of powers from the EU to Britain protects our distinctive national interests without harming the interests of our European partners.

THE NEXT PARLIAMENT

So, yes, I believe we will be able to negotiate the return of the powers I have set out.

But no, we will not rush into some massive Euro-bust-up.

We will take our time, negotiate firmly, patiently and respectfully, and aim to achieve the return of the powers I have set out over the lifetime of a parliament.

I know some people will want me to go further, and faster. To them let me say this:

If we win the election, we will inherit the worst public finances of any incoming government for fifty years.

We will have a generational challenge to get Britain to live within her means, to secure economic recovery and to deliver this country from the appalling mess left by this Labour Government.

That has to come before anything else.

THE LONGER TERM

These steps: a referendum lock to prevent this ever happening again, and the return of a specific set of powers. I believe these things can stop Britain’s relationship with the EU from heading in the wrong direction.

Clearly we will be asked the question: what if you cannot get these guarantees and what if Europe continues to head in the wrong, centralising direction? Let me answer that question in advance.

Well, if that were to happen, then of course we can return to this subject in a manifesto for the parliament after the next one.

Let me be clear: this is not something we want to happen. Nor is it something we expect to happen.

But if those circumstances were to occur, we would not rule out a referendum on a wider package of guarantees to protect our democratic decision-making, while remaining, of course, a member of the European Union.

But that would be a judgement for the future, not for this election or for the next Parliament.

What I have set out today settles our policy for the next parliament.

CONCLUSION

I just want to conclude by saying something clearly to our European partners.

My purpose in committing any government I lead to these measures is not to frustrate or to sabotage the operation of the European Union.

It is to put Britain’s role in the EU on a more positive footing.

As we commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, we should remember that the European Union has done much to reconcile the painful division of Europe and to spread democracy and the rule of law across our continent.

But it should not rest on those achievements.

Today, European countries need to work together to combat global climate change, to fight global poverty, to boost global economic growth.

If I am elected Prime Minister, the British Government I lead will be an active member of the European Union.

On energy security, on climate change, on growth, on global poverty, we will look forward to working with our European partners to make progress on those issues.

We will press to keep the doors of the European Union open to new member states, especially to entrench stability in the Western Balkans where so much European blood has flowed, and also to Turkey.

We will stand for open markets, and a strong transatlantic relationship; an EU that looks out to the world, and that builds strong and open relations with rising powers like China and India.

We will want to see a tough financial settlement in the forthcoming negotiations on the EU budget, ensuring that Britain does not pay more than its fair share.

We will pay particular attention to the area of financial regulation, where we will be vigilant and tenacious in defending the competitiveness of the City of London.

Like every other Member State, we will fight our corner to advance our national interests.

But our guiding principles will be these: we believe Britain’s interests are best served by membership of a European Union that is an association of its member states, we will never allow Britain to slide into a federal Europe and that means we will watch closely how the Lisbon Treaty works out in practice.

We will put in place a referendum lock, so never again can a British government transfer powers to the EU without the people giving their consent in a referendum.

We will enact a United Kingdom Sovereignty Bill, making clear that ultimate authority rests with our Parliament.

And we will negotiate for a specific set of British guarantees that are realistic, deliverable – and essential.

That is our programme for Government.

That is the mandate we will seek at the next election.

In this area – Britain’s relationship with Europe – what people want from their politicians is some straight talk and plain speaking.

They were told we were joining a Common Market and it turned out to be a European Union.

They were told they would have a say over the European constitution but that promise was broken.

People are fed up with the endless lies and spin, they just want to know what we can achieve and how.

That is what I will deliver.

I said we would leave the federalist group in the European Parliament and we did.

I said we would have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and if it hadn’t been ratified we would have had that referendum.

But I did not promise a referendum come what may because once the Lisbon Treaty is the law, there’s nothing anyone can do about it and I’m not going to treat people like fools and offer a referendum that has no effect.

What I am promising today is doable, credible, deliverable.

That’s what this is all about.

Giving the British people a policy on Europe that they can actually believe in.

Following the expenses scandal there was widespread hope that the fallout would create a new Parliament, One of integrity and kudos.

Alas, if the Prime Minister gets his way this is not likely to be the case.

Desperate to suppress a back bench rebellion that is mounting in the run up to next month’s report by Sir Christopher Kelly, Gordon Brown is frantically working with his aides to hatch his latest plan.

The Kelly report is expected to make a dramatic overhaul of the expenses system and so the PM is working tirelessly to gain support for a self regulated system to be put in place that would include the following:

Increasing the basic salary of all MP’s by circa £3,000 from £64,766 to £67,766 whilst forcing a reduction (average £20,000) from Government salaries which are earned on top of the basic salary and range between £96,000 / £197,000. Downing St believes that the general public will accept this ‘reform’ in principle as the aim is that the overall cost to the taxpayer will not rise from £12.3m for ministerial wages.

The Kelly report will, among other things prevent MP’s from employing family members in any capacity. It will also make the recommendation that MP’s rent their second home as oppossed to purchasing at taxpayers expense thereby removing the temptation for an MP to ‘flip’ between their homes for financial gain.

It is unlikely that many backbenchers will accept the recommendations whilst Gordon Brown is likely to struggle to suppress his many rebels who are quietly massing on the fringe as though in a scene direct from the Roman Senate after the constitutional reforms of the Emperor Diocletian. Clearly they will not go quietly with his ‘new package’.

The Prime Minister is simply playing catch-up to David Cameron who has pledged a smaller Cabinet within a smaller Government. David Cameron has the makings of a full package of proposals whilst Gordon Brown has a solution more akin to a patchwork quilt.

Imagine if you will both Gordon and David both sifting through the fancy dress box and Cameron emerging with a full Zorro suit whilst Gordon has the remnants of outfits of the Joker, the Riddler and Bozo The Clown.

It is not though the PLP or the House of Commons that Gordon Brown needs to convince it is the most powerful person in the country and that is the voter in the street a large proportion of whom come from the Public Sector who’ve just been forced to take a pay freeze.

This afternoon, David Cameron took to the stage in Manchester to make his speech not just to his Party and the Party faithful but to the nation as a whole.

The full text of his speech follows bringing the Conservative Party conference and our coverage of it to a close.

I want to get straight to the point.

We all know how bad things are, massive debt, social breakdown, political disenchantment. But what I want to talk about today is how good things could be.

Don’t get me wrong, I have no illusions. If win this election, it is going to be tough. There will have to be cutbacks in public spending, and that will be painful. We will need to confront Britain’s culture of irresponsibility and that will be hard to take for many people. And we will have to tear down Labour’s big government bureaucracy, ripping up its time-wasting, money-draining, responsibility-sapping nonsense.

None of this will be easy. We will be tested. I will be tested. I’m ready for that – and so I believe, are the British people. So yes, there is a steep climb ahead.

But I tell you this. The view from the summit will be worth it.

AFGHANISTAN

If we win the election the first and gravest responsibility I will face is for our troops in Afghanistan and their families at home.

I know that.

I know about the mothers and the wives, the husbands and the children, counting the minutes between news bulletins, fearing the announcement of the next casualty. I know what they want – and deserve – from their government. A ruthless, relentless focus on fighting, winning and coming home.

That must start at the top. Instead of a revolving door at the Ministry of Defence with a second rate substitute in charge, we need a politician from the front rank, and in Liam Fox we have one.

We need a clear chain of command that flows right from the top. My national security council, with the key ministers and defence chiefs, will sit from day one of a new government, as a war cabinet.

We need a strategy that is credible, and do-able. We are not in Afghanistan to deliver the perfect society. We are there to stop the re-establishment of terrorist training camps.

Frankly, time is short. We cannot spend another eight years taking ground only to give it back again.

So our method should be clear……send more soldiers to train more Afghans to deliver the security we need. Then we can bring our troops home.

And I know the most urgent requirement of all. That those brave men and women we send into danger have every piece of equipment they need to do the job we ask of them. I will make sure that happens.

And I have something else to say. When the country is at war, when Whitehall is at war, we need people who understand war in Whitehall.

That’s why I’m proud to announce today that someone who has fought for our country and served for forty years in our armed forces will not only advise our defence team but will join our benches in the House of Lords and if we win the election could serve in a future Conservative Government:

General Sir Richard Dannatt. As we welcome him to serve with us, let us all salute those who serve our country.

FAMILY, COMMUNITY, COUNTRY

We could have come to Manchester this week and played it safe. But that’s not what this party is about and it’s certainly not what I’m about.

When I stood on that stage in Blackpool four years ago it wasn’t just to head up this party, sit around and wait for the tide to turn. It was to lead this party and change it, so together we could turn the tide.

Look what we’ve done together. More women candidates, campaigning on the environment, the party of the NHS. And this year, here in Manchester, our most successful, dynamic conference for twenty years.

I’d like to thank everyone involved, the police who kept us safe and your chum and mine, Eric Pickles.

But also this year, in these difficult times, we’ve won the argument on the economy and debt as George Osborne showed in that magnificent speech on Tuesday.

That was the success we achieved this year.

But for me and Samantha this year will only ever mean one thing. When such a big part of your life suddenly ends nothing else – nothing outside – matters. It’s like the world has stopped turning and the clocks have stopped ticking. And as they slowly start again, weeks later, you ask yourself all over again: do I really want to do this? You think about what you really believe and what sustains you.

I know what sustains me the most. She is sitting right there and I’m incredibly proud to call her my wife.

My beliefs. I am not a complicated person. I love this country and the things it stands for.

That the state is your servant, never your master. Common sense and decency. The British sense of community.

I have some simple beliefs.That there is such a thing as society, it’s just not the same thing as the state. That there is a ‘we’ in politics, and not just a ‘me.’

Above all, the importance of family. That fierce sense of loyalty you feel for each other. The unconditional love you give and receive, especially when things go wrong or when you get it wrong. That powerful sense you have when you hold your children and there’s nothing, absolutely nothing – you wouldn’t do to protect them.

This is my DNA: family, community, country. These are the things I care about. They are what made me. They are what I’m in public service to protect, promote and defend. And I believe they are what we need in Britain today more than ever.

I know how lucky I’ve been to have the chances I had. And I know there are children growing up in Britain today who will never know the love of a father. Who are born in homes that hold them back. Who go to schools that keep them back.

Children who will never start a business, never raise a family, never see the world. Children who will live the life they’re given, not the life they want. That is what I want to change.

I want every child to have the chances I had. That is why I’m standing here.

BIG GOVERNMENT

But we won’t help anyone unless we face up to some big problems. The highest budget deficit since the war. The deepest recession since the war. Social breakdown; political disillusionment. Big problems for the next government to address.

And here is the big argument in British politics today, put plainly and simply. Labour say that to solve the country’s problems, we need more government.

Don’t they see? It is more government that got us into this mess.

Why is our economy broken? Not just because Labour wrongly thought they’d abolished boom and bust. But because government got too big, spent too much and doubled the national debt.

Why is our society broken? Because government got too big, did too much and undermined responsibility.

Why are our politics broken? Because government got too big, promised too much and pretended it had all the answers.

Of course it was done with the best intentions. And let’s be clear: not everything Labour did was wrong.

Devolution; the minimum wage; civil partnerships, these are good things that we will we keep.

But this idea that for every problem there’s a government solution for every issue an initiative, for every situation a czar….

It ends with them making you register with the government to help out your child’s football team. With police officers punished for babysitting each other’s children. With laws so bureaucratic and complicated even their own Attorney General can’t obey them.

Do you know the worst thing about their big government? It’s not the cost, though that’s bad enough. It is the steady erosion of responsibility. Our task is to lead Britain in a completely different direction.

So no, we are not going to solve our problems with bigger government. We are going to solve our problems with a stronger society. Stronger families. Stronger communities. A stronger country. All by rebuilding responsibility.

THE DEBT CRISIS

The clearest sign of big government irresponsibility is the enormous size of our debt.

If we win the election, we will have to confront Labour’s Debt Crisis, deal with it, and take the country with us. I want everyone to understand the gravity of our situation.

Our national debt has doubled in the last five years and our annual deficit next year will be over £170 billion.

That’s twice as big as when we nearly went bankrupt in the 1970s. It is a massive risk to our economy. If we spend more than we earn, we have to get the money from somewhere.

Right now, the Government is simply printing it. Sometime soon that will have to stop, because in the end, printing money leads to inflation. Then the Government will have to borrow it.

But we’ll only be given the money if lenders are confident we can pay it back. If they’re not, we’ll have to pay higher interest rates and that could stop our economic recovery in its tracks.

So we have three choices.

Option one: we can just default on the debt. Not pay it. Other countries have done that in the past. But I don’t think anyone in this country wants to go down that road.

Option two: we could encourage inflation, which would wipe out the value of the debt, making it easier to pay off. But that’s not just an economic disaster – it’s a social disaster too. It doesn’t just wipe out debts, it wipes out people’s hard-earned savings.

So we have the third option – for me the only option. We must pay down this deficit. The longer we leave it, the worse it will be for all of us.

I know there are some who say we should just wait.

Don’t talk about the deficit. Don’t even plan for what needs to be done. Just wait. Don’t they understand – it’s the waiting that’s the problem.

The longer we wait for a credible plan, the bigger the bill for our children to pay. The longer we wait, the greater the risk to the recovery. The longer we wait, the higher the chance we return to recession.

Here’s the most obvious reason we can’t wait. The more we wait, the more we waste on the interest we’re paying on this debt.

Next year, Gordon Brown will spend more money on the interest on our debt than on schools. More than on law and order, more than on child poverty.

So I say to the Labour Party and the trades unions just tell me what is compassionate, what is progressive about spending more on debt interest than on helping the poorest children in our country?

The progressive thing to do, the responsible thing to do is to get a grip on the debt but in a way that brings the country together instead of driving it apart. That means showing leadership at the top which is why we will cut ministers’ pay and freeze it for a parliament.

It means showing that we’re all in this together which is why we’ll freeze public sector pay for all but the one million lowest paid public sector workers……for one year to help protect jobs.

And it means showing that the rich will pay their share which is why for now the 50p tax rate will have to stay and Child Trust Funds for those on middle and higher incomes will have to go.

Yes we have made some tough choices. But in British politics today that is the only responsible thing to do.

PENSIONERS

Dealing with this debt crisis is not just about cuts in the short term. We must also live within our means over the long term. Everyone knows we have an ageing population.

Our pension system was designed in a time when many people didn’t live till 70 …. It is out of date and it has to change. That’s why this week we made the difficult decision to bring forward the raising of the pension age.

I know that working longer will be tough for many people. But it will also allow us to help pensioners more.

I got an email from a lady who wrote to me in desperation. She doesn’t want me to reveal her name because she’s so frightened of what might happen to her.

She and her husband left school at fifteen and started work straight away. They bought their own home, where they’ve lived for forty years. But they’ve been let down terribly. She lost out on the 10p tax and took a drop in her pension. She and her husband aren’t entitled to pension credit because they saved for their old age.

Here’s what she says:

“during the cold spell this winter, we sat watching TV with blankets wrapped around us.

The drug dealer and the druggies who live nearby had their windows wide open and the heating full on.

We don’t bother watching police dramas on the TV, we just look out of our window.

Our savings are making no money.

If one of us dies we cannot afford to stay in our home.”

This lady doesn’t want pity. Pensioners don’t want pity. They just want to know that if they’ve lived responsibly, they’ll be looked after in their old age.

Parties have been talking about raising the pension in line with earnings for years. But it never happens.

Well let’s be the party that finally makes it happen. Because of the difficult choice we’ve made on the pension age we’ll be able not just to deal with our debt but to raise the basic state pension in line with earnings. Not just for one year, but for every year.

GROWTH

Cutting back on big government is not just about spending less. Getting our debt down means getting our economic growth up.

Let’s be clear where growth will come from. Not big government, with its Regional Development Agencies and National Investment Corporations but entrepreneurs. New businesses, new industries, new technologies.

I get enterprise. I worked in business for seven years. And let me tell you what I learned during that time.

Complicated taxes, excessive regulations they make life impossible for entrepreneurs.

So I will always put the same questions to Ken Clarke and his business team.

What are you doing to make it easier to start a business? Easier to take people on? What are you doing to make regulation less complicated? To make locating a business here more attractive?

Ken Clarke and David Willetts this week helped launch our plan to Get Britain Working.

It is a plan to boost science, skills, self-employment a plan to improve training, technology, tax incentives for entrepreneurs.

This is what it means.

It means the man who’s lost his job and his confidence saying yes, I can set up on my own, I can take responsibility, there’s nothing to stop me.

It means the people he takes on, who thought they were written off, thinking yes I’ve got another chance and I can provide for my family again.

Self-belief is infectious and I want it to spread again throughout our country especially through the poorest places where Labour let hope fade away.

In Britain today, there are entrepreneurs everywhere – they just don’t know it yet. Success stories everywhere – they just haven’t been written yet. We must be the people who release that potential.

FINANCIAL REFORM

And just a quick word to the man who says he abolished boom and bust and then saved the world.

It was you Gordon Brown who designed the system of financial regulation that helped cause the financial crisis. You want to keep it the same. We say it needs to change.

That’s why we will give back to the Bank of England its power to regulate the City powers that should never have been taken away.

BROKEN SOCIETY

But once we’re generating economic growth – what are we going to do with it? What kind of society do we hope to build?

Look at Britain in 2009. It is, in so many ways, a great place to live. Great culture and arts, great diversity, great sport.

And think of the great sport coming up next year England in the World Cup, then the Olympics, then rugby and cricket too. And yes, let’s get the Football World Cup here in 2018 as well.

But in Britain today there is a dark side as well. After twelve years of big government, we still have those stubborn social problems.

Poverty, crime, addiction. Failing schools. Sink estates. Broken homes.

The truth is, it’s not just that big government has failed to solve these problems. Big government has all too often helped cause them by undermining the personal and social responsibility that should be the lifeblood of a strong society.

Just think of the signals we send out. To the family struggling to raise children, pay a mortgage, hold down a job.

“Stay together and we’ll give you less; split up and we give you more.”

To the young mum working part time, trying to earn something extra for her family “from every extra pound you earn we’ll take back 96 pence.”

Yes, 96 pence.

Let me say that again, slowly.

In Gordon Brown’s Britain if you’re a single mother with two kids earning £150 a week the withdrawal of benefits and the additional taxes mean that for every extra pound you earn, you keep just 4 pence.

What kind of incentive is that? Thirty years ago this party won an election fighting against 98 per cent tax rates on the richest. Today I want us to show even more anger about 96 per cent tax rates on the poorest.

And in that fight, there’s one person this party can rely on. He’s the man who has dedicated himself to the cause of social justice…and shown great courage in standing up for those least able to stand up for themselves. Iain Duncan Smith

And I am proud to announce today that if we win the election he will be responsible in government for bringing together all our work to help mend the broken society.

LABOUR AND POVERTY

Labour still have the arrogance to think that they are the ones who will fight poverty and deprivation.

On Monday, when we announced our plan to Get Britain Working you know what Labour called it? “Callous.”

Excuse me? Who made the poorest poorer? Who left youth unemployment higher? Who made inequality greater?

No, not the wicked Tories… you, Labour: you’re the ones that did this to our society.

So don’t you dare lecture us about poverty. You have failed and it falls to us, the modern Conservative Party to fight for the poorest who you have let down.

FAMILY

We’ll start with what is most important to me – and what I believe is most important for the country – families.

I believe that a stable, loving home is the most precious thing a child can have. Society begins at home. Responsibility starts at home. That’s why we cannot be neutral on this.

Now I don’t live in some fantasy land where every family is happily married with 2.4 kids. Nor am I going to stand here and pretend that family life is always easy.

But by recognising marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system and abolishing the couple penalty in the benefits system, we’ll help make it that little bit easier.

But it’s not just about money. It’s also about emotional support, particularly in those fraught early years before children go to school. Labour understood this and we should acknowledge that.

That’s why Sure Start will stay, and we’ll improve it. We will keep flexible working, and extend it. And we will not just keep but transform something that was there long before Sure Start began – health visitors.

But making the country more family-friendly is not just about what government does. Responsibility goes much wider. It’s about what we all do. It’s about the way we live.

Why aren’t we building homes with enough room for a family to sit round a table and actually eat a meal together?

It’s about our culture. Why do so many magazines and websites and music videos make children insecure about the way they look or the experiences they haven’t even had?

And it’s about our society. We give our children more and more rights, and we trust our teachers less and less. We’ve got to stop treating children like adults and adults like children.

It is about everyone taking responsibility. The more that we as a society do, the less we will need government to do.

WELFARE

But you can’t expect families to behave responsibly when the welfare system works in the opposite direction.

In welfare, big government has failed people in a big way. There are two million children in Britain growing up in homes where no-one works. Two million.

That is the highest in Europe. It is one in six children in our country.

We have to break this cycle of welfare dependency.

I got an email from a guy called Viv Williams. He lost his job last year and was desperate to get back into work. But he had a mortgage to pay so he went to register for Job Seeker’s Allowance.

He’d twisted his ankle and walked in with a limp, so you know what they said? They told him he couldn’t register for Job Seeker’s Allowance because he wasn’t fit to work so he’d have to go on incapacity benefit.

He told them there was nothing wrong with him, that he wanted to work. But no – he wasn’t allowed to.

This is a man who wanted to take responsibility for himself and his family and the system said no, you’ve got to depend on the state.

As he says: “I told them, you’re having a laugh.” But it’s not funny. The welfare system today sends out completely crazy signals.

We have got to turn it around and with Theresa May and David Freud in charge we will. We’re going to make it clear: If you really cannot work, we’ll look after you. But if you can work, you should work and not live off the hard work of others.

NHS

So we have to reform welfare and strengthen families. But when I think of my family, in the end there’s only one thing that matters and that is that the people I love are healthy and well.

My family owes so much to the National Health Service. No, it is not perfect. But I tell you, when you’re carrying a child in your arms to Accident and Emergency in the middle of the night and don’t have to reach for your wallet it’s a lot better than the alternative.

So we will never change the idea at the heart of our NHS, that healthcare in this country is free at the point of use and available to everyone based on need, not ability to pay.

But that doesn’t mean the NHS shouldn’t change. It has to change because for many people, the service isn’t good enough. Mostly, that’s not the fault of those who work in the NHS.

The fault lies with big government. With their endless targets and reorganisations, Labour have tried to run the NHS like a machine.

But it’s not a machine full of cogs. It is a living, breathing institution made up of people – doctors, nurses, patients.

This lever-pulling from above – it has got to stop. With Andrew Lansley’s reform plans, we’re going to give the NHS back to people. We’ll say to the doctors: those targets you hate, they’re gone.

But in return, we’ll do more for patients. Choice about where you get treated. Information about how good different doctors are, how good different hospitals are.

Information about the things that really matter, cancer survival times……the rate of hospital infections……your chances of surviving if you have a stroke.

We will give doctors back their professional responsibility.

But in exchange they will be subject to patient accountability. That’s why we can look the British people in the eye and say this party is the party of the NHS now, today, tomorrow, always.

CRIME

The instinct to protect the people we love is so strong. Nearly two years ago it was that instinct – that love – that drove Fiona Pilkington to do something desperate.

When I first read her story in the paper I found it difficult to finish the article – it’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever read.

Fiona was so driven to despair by the vile thugs that bullied her and her lovely disabled daughter Francecca and by the police that didn’t answer her cries for help that she could only see one way out. She put her daughter in her car, drove to a lay-by, and set it on fire.

If no one would protect them then by ending their lives, she was keeping them safe.

No one could hurt them anymore. Just think about what we allowed to happen here in our country. This goes deep and it’s been going on for years.

It is about a breakdown of all the things that are meant to keep us safe……a complete breakdown of responsibility.

A breakdown of morality in the minds of those thugs a total absence of feeling or conscience. A breakdown in community where a neighbour is left to reach a pitch of utter misery. And a breakdown of our criminal justice system.

Every part of it, the police, the prosecution services, the prisons……is failing under the weight of big government targets and bureaucracy. The police aren’t on the streets because they’re busy complying with ten different inspection regimes. The police say the CPS isn’t charging people…because they have to hit targets to reduce the number of unsuccessful trials.

And the prisons aren’t rehabilitating offenders…because they’re focused on meeting thirty-three different performance indicators.

This all needs to change. I’m not going to stand here and promise you a country where nothing bad ever happens. I do not underestimate how difficult it will be to deal with this problem of crime and disorder.

We cannot rebuild social responsibility from on high. But the least we can do the least we can do is pledge to all the people who are scared, who live their lives in fear and who can’t protect themselves, that a Conservative Government, with Chris Grayling, with Dominic Grieve, will reform the police, reform the courts, reform prisons. We will be there to protect you.

TERRORISM

We understand too the grave responsibility we will have to protect our people from terrorism. This party knows only too well the pain and grief that terrorism brings.

Twenty-five years ago, almost to the day on the Thursday night of our party conference in Brighton, the IRA exploded a bomb that injured and killed good friends and colleagues.

Today let us honour their memory and send our thoughts and best wishes to all those, including Margaret Tebbit, who still bear the scars of that terrible night.

SCHOOLS

To build a responsible society we need to teach our children properly. I come at education as a parent, not a politician.

When I watch my daughter skip across the playground to start her first term in year one, I want to know that every penny of the education budget is following her and the other children into that school and that classroom.

So when I see Ed Balls blow hundreds of millions on so-called “curriculum development” on consultancies, on quangos like the QCDA and BECTA like every other parent with a child at a state school I want to say:

This is my child, it’s my money, give it to my headteacher instead of wasting it in Whitehall.

But it’s not just about money. It’s about values. We know that discipline is vital but we overrule head teachers when they exclude a disruptive pupil.

We know that every child has different abilities and different needs but too often we put them all in the same class so the brightest aren’t stretched and those who are struggling fall behind.

We know that competitive sport is important but we’ve had minister after minister promising it and nothing ever happens.

Discipline. Setting by ability. Regular sport.

These are all things you find in a private school. Not because the Government tells them to do it, but because it’s what parents want. Why can’t parents in state schools always get what they want?

With us, they will, because our reforms will create more good schools and more school places. Yes, our plans will increase competition – and no, that is not a dirty word. It means that when a good new school opens down the road, the other ones around it will want to improve. Big government has totally failed in state education and with Michael Gove we will get the radical change we need.

COUNTRY

Family, community, country. In recent years we’ve been hearing things about our country we haven’t heard for a long time. People saying they don’t know what it is to be British, what this country stands for.

People in Scotland who want to leave the United Kingdom and people in England who say let them go.

I am passionate about our Union and I will never do anything to put it at risk. And because of the new political force we have created with the Ulster Unionists, I’m proud that at the next election we will be the only party fielding candidates in every part of the United Kingdom.

Britishness is not mechanical, it’s organic. It’s an emotional connection to a way of life, an attitude, a set of institutions.

Make these stronger and our national identity becomes stronger. To be British is to be open-minded.

We don’t care who you are or where you’re from, if you’ve got something to offer then this is a place you can call home.

But if we want our country to carry on with this proud, open tradition, we’ve got to understand the pressures of mass immigration and that’s why we need to put limits on it.

To be British is to be generous. Whenever there’s a disaster on the other side of the world, British people dig deep into their pockets and give their money. Comic Relief didn’t raise less money this year because of the recession – it raised more.

That says big things about our country, and government should reflect that. That’s why I’m proud that we’ve ring-fenced the budget for international development.

To be British is to be sceptical of authority and the powers-that-be.

That’s why ID cards, 42 days and Labour’s surveillance state are so utterly unacceptable and why we will sweep the whole rotten edifice away.

And to be British is to have an instinctive love of the countryside and the natural world. The dangers of climate change are stark and very real. If we don’t act now, and act quickly, we could face disaster.

Yes, we need to change the way we live. But is that such a bad thing? The insatiable consumption and materialism of the past decade, has it made us happier or more fulfilled?

Yes, we have to put our faith in technologies. But that is not a giant leap. Just around the corner are new green technologies, unimaginable a decade ago, that can change the way we live, travel, work.

And yes, we need global co-operation. But that shouldn’t be difficult. It just takes leadership, and that’s what we need at the Copenhagen summit this December.

POLITICS

But if you care about our country, you’ve got to care about the health of our institutions. And today one of them, more than any other, is in a serious state of decline.

Our parliament used to be a beacon to the world. But the expenses scandal made it a laughing stock.

We apologised to the public, paid back the money that shouldn’t have been claimed……and published all our expenses online to help stop this happening again.

We’ve led the way in other areas too……MPs’ pay and pensions, cutting the cost of politics. But let me make something clear – this is not over.

We are just starting the job of building the new politics we need. Because the anger over expenses reflected something deeper. The sense that people have been left powerless by big government.

So it is time to shake things up. We need to redistribute power and responsibility. It’s your community and you should have control over it……so we need decentralisation. It’s your money and you should know what is being done with it……so we need transparency. It’s your life that’s affected by political decisions and the people who make those decisions should answer to you, so we need accountability.

EU

But if there is one political institution that needs decentralisation, transparency, and accountability, it is the EU.

For the past few decades, something strange has been happening on the left of British politics. People who think of themselves as progressives have fallen in love with an institution that no one elects, no one can remove, and that hasn’t signed off its accounts for over a decade.

Indeed even to question these things is, apparently, completely beyond the pale. Well, here is a progressive reform plan for Europe.

Let’s work together on the things where the EU can really help, like combating climate change, fighting global poverty and spreading free and fair trade.

But let’s return to democratic and accountable politics the powers the EU shouldn’t have.

And if we win the election, we will have as the strongest voice for our country’s interests, the man who is leading our campaign for a referendum, the man who will be our new British Foreign Secretary: William Hague.

WHAT WE CAN PROMISE

Family, community, country.

Recognising that what holds society together is responsibility……and that the good society is a responsible society. That’s what I’m about – that’s what any government I lead will be about.

The problems we face are big and urgent. Rebuilding our broken economy……because unless we do, our children will be saddled with debt for decades to come.

Mending our broken society……because unless we do, we will never solve those stubborn social problems that cause the size of government to rise.

Fixing our broken politics……because unless we do, we will never reform public services……never see the strong, powerful citizens…who will build the responsible society that we all want to see.

This week you’ve heard about our plans, our policies, the changes we want to make and the team to put them in place.

But I know that whatever plans you make in Opposition, it’s the unpredictable events that come to dominate a government.

And it’s your character, your temperament and your judgment, not your policies and your manifesto – that really make the difference.

You can never prove you’re ready for everything that will come your way as Prime Minister. But you can point to the judgments you’ve made. And you can learn from the mistakes that others have made.

I’ve seen what happens when you win and you waste your mandate obsessing about the 24 hour news cycle and fighting each day as if it’s a new general election, ducking the difficult things that would have really made a difference.

That was Blair. And I’ve seen what happens when you turn every decision into a political calculation. That was – that is – Brown.

So I won’t promise things I cannot deliver. But I can look you in the eye and tell you that in a Conservative Britain:

If you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off. If you save money your whole life, you’ll be rewarded. If you start your own business, we’ll be right behind you. If you want to raise a family, we’ll support you. If you’re frightened, we’ll protect you.If you risk your safety to stop a crime, we’ll stand by you. If you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you.

Ask me what a Conservative government stands for and the answer is this, we will reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who can’t.

CONCLUSION

So if we cut big government back. If we move society forward.

And if we rebuild responsibility, then we can put Britain back on her feet.I know that today there aren’t many reasons to be cheerful.

But there are reasons to believe. Yes it will be a steep climb. But the view from the summit will be worth it. Let me tell you what I can see.

I see a country where more children grow up with security and love because family life comes first. I see a country where you choose the most important things in life – the school your child goes to and the healthcare you get. I see a country where communities govern themselves – organising local services, independent of Whitehall, a great handing back of power to people.

I see a country with entrepreneurs everywhere, bringing their ideas to life – and life to our great towns and cities. I see a country where it’s not just about the quantity of money, but the quality of life – where we lead the world in saving our planet. I see a country where you’re not so afraid to walk home alone, where you’re safe in the knowledge that right and wrong is restored to law and order.

I see a country where the poorest children go to the best schools not the worst, where birth is never a barrier.

No, we will not make it if we pull in different directions, follow our own interests, take care of only ourselves.

But if we pull together, come together, work together – we will get through this together.

And when we look back we will say not that the government made it happen…

…not that the minister made it happen…

…but the businesswoman made it happen…

…the police officer made it happen…

…the father made it happen…

…the teacher made it happen.

You made it happen.

Will New Labour learn their toughest lesson yet?

In Brighton in 2009 the Labour Party convened for their last Party conference before the General Election.

Currently, the Labour Party are woefully behind the Conservative Party in every poll imaginable and in some polls they can be found languishing third behind the Liberal Democrats. It is clear they are not in an enviable position.

Given that that is the case would it not be prudent to get your message across of what it is you are actually doing as leaders of the country, what it is you are actually achieving as the Party that has been in office for 12 years?

The Labour Party, headed up by Tony Blair did do some good in the early days, they did have a few successes.

Within 10 years they had halved the average standards achieved in both maths and English for primary schoolchildren, although there are some reports that the grading has changed accordingly. There was the minimum wage and the abolition of hereditary Peers though Tony Blair saw to it that the seats did not remain empty for long.

Conversely though there was the pensions crisis, the sale of our gold reserves whilst at their historic lowest (a quarter of the market value of today), and the continued issue of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Under Gordon Brown the Labour Party, the Government and indeed this country has gone from bad to worse.

The world economic crisis has affected every country but some are weathering the storm better than others.

We may all appear at the other side of the recession at roughly the same time but Britain will be in a worse position financially than most other countries in the world courtesy of Alistair Darling and his decision to emulate Viv Nicholson and Spend Spend Spend.

The mood of the Cabinet has changed since Gordon Brown took power too, whilst there was always the spin and perceived underhanded tactics from a Blair Cabinet there seems to be a survive at any cost attitude within a Brown Cabinet.

All this only serves to undermine the Government and to further weaken their credibility.

Another Brownism that has been allowed to come forth of late is the constant rants of the Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman MP. In the past she has been known to be quite literate but of late and possibly as the mood darkens within the Party this veil has slipped.

Well known for her feminist views she seems to have taken a new stream of late with the following choice quote

the Tories are arrogant for believing it is their time to lead this country

Sorry Ms Harman, you cannot apportion this claim to anyone other than yourself, it was made up by you and you used the same line of attack in the local elections in June.

We are expectant of nothing, everything has to be earnt, a victory has to be fought for.

The British public are aware of what is and is not said, the British public are not ignorant of daily events, the British public are educated to the degree that they can make their own minds up without negative campaigning and untruths.

This is a warning: If you continue with the negativity it will be the undoing of any real chance you have at the General Election.

Here is another instance of the input of Harriet Harman being way-off track when as the Equalities Minister she made the following statement

If you have got two equally qualified candidates, you might actually want to have the woman because she is a woman

Ms Harman, by virtue of positive discrimination you are by default discriminating. There are no two ways about it and no flowery language can get away from it.

Only when the Labour Party move away from the 1970′s style of negative campaigning will they find themselves in a position to challenge for a seat at the table of a hung Parliament which currently is the best deal on the table for the Labour Party.

#Labourlost the right to preach to the British public about standards and ethics after the debacle which began the day that Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary first resigned from the Cabinet when he was still an MP.

In 1998, whilst working as Trade Secretary and in the days without his peerage Peter Mandelson resigned over the interest-free loan of £373,000 from the Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson who later accused Lord Mandelson of lying to the Commons about the home loan affair that cost both of them their Government jobs.

In his resignation letter Peter Mandelson was obviously both embarrassed and humbled

I should not, with all candour, have entered into the arrangement.

I should, having done so, have told you and other colleagues whose advice I value and I should have told my permanent secretary on learning of the inquiry into Geoffrey Robinson, although I entirely stood aside from this.

The second resignation came in 2001 over a passport row for the Hinduja family amid their sponsorship of the Faith Zone in the Millennium Dome.

After a number of years in the wilderness Mandelson became a European Commissioner For Trade in 2004 until 2008 when during a particularly rough time for Gordon Brown there was a shock ‘call-up’ for Peter Mandelson who was said to be

surprised but proud

…to be offered the role as Business Secretary.

How is it all to end for Lord Mandelson third time around? Only time will tell but you can rest assured that the British public are less susceptible to his wily ways since his own fallibility was exposed.