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| David Cameron's speech: the verdict of Michael Heseltine and others | The panel Our panellists give their verdict on David Cameron's speech at the Conservative conference in BirminghamMichael Heseltine: A sense of faith in the individual burned throughDavid Cameron had to combine two central themes: first, the urgency and inevitability of the cuts, which involve making clear the responsibility of the Labour party in the buildup to the crisis; and second, the improvements and opportunities that flow from resolute early decisive action. He achieved both.He spent a lot of time on his vision of society. What burns through is the sense of faith in the individual: the bigger the contribution people make to their own lives and the community, the more fulfilment they will feel and the greater satisfaction they will derive from the way they live. This conflicts with the traditional view that the state has limitless obligations to the individual. I think that instinctively people know this, and there is a broad acceptance therefore that the cuts are not only necessary but will open many doors that present restraints keep firmly closed.Chris Rennard: Cameron copied Clinton's decontamination strategyThe strategy of "triangulation" as practised most successfully by politicians such as Bill Clinton was much in evidence this afternoon. It is based upon decontaminating your own brand. Clear distinctions are made between where you stand – and the stance of both your principal opponents and your own party's traditional positions.David Cameron's defence of removing child benefit payments from higher-rate taxpayers by arguing that the "broadest shoulders should bear a greater load" shows how he is using this issue as the political equivalent of Tony Blair removing clause IV from the Labour party's constitution. He managed a difficult balancing act in wishing Margaret Thatcher a happy birthday next week, while replacing her approach that "there is no such thing as society" with a speech talking about fairness in "a civilised society".His speech only just began to explain the "big society". Some in his party blame the big society message for his party's failure to win an outright majority in May. But he didn't waste much time on his rightwing critics. He simply reminded them of his achievement in ending over 4,000 days in opposition while three previous Conservative leaders offering more traditionally Tory messages had failed.Frances O'Grady: Nerves were steadied, but voters are the real testDavid Cameron needed to steady Conservative nerves after the child benefit debacle earlier in the week. His confident performance certainly achieved that inside the conference hall. Even those in his party who dislike his love of coalition know that they have a leader who is significantly more popular than they are.But the real test is whether voters accept his arguments on the cuts. A 7% reduction in spending every year may sound modest, but will be eye-watering in practice. Margaret Thatcher came nowhere near this and, unlike this government, split deficit reduction equally between tax and cuts.Cameron's claims that the cuts will be fair will be chipped away by the kind of hardship stories that housing benefit cuts are already generating. Even the child benefit cut surgically targets women and families among the better off. And as the bankers' bonus season approaches, the public will question whether those with the broadest shoulders really are taking the biggest hit.The alternative to public services is his "big society". It would be wrong to be entirely cynical about boosting community activism. After all, unions were the pioneers of this – a product of the same period that produced the self-help and co-ops that modern Conservatives celebrate. But what we – and the many voluntary groups already facing cuts – know is that there is a limit to what you can do without state support and public institutions. That is why we have the NHS, not charity hospitals.The weakest part of the speech was on growth. The Conservative belief that spending cuts will stimulate economic growth in time for tax cuts at the next election is a real gamble. If unemployment is not to get worse, we need phenomenal levels of job creation in the private sector to make up for 1.3m job losses projected on the basis of the emergency budget alone. He may reject laissez-faire, but a retreat from industrial policy, watering down the green investment bank and mere exhortations for banks to lend again does not suggest success.Fraser Nelson: 'A good speech disguised as a bad one'This was the perhaps the lowest-octane speech David Cameron has ever given to the Tory conference. He didn't need to give the speech of his life, for once, so didn't. He dutifully ran through all the various points of government policies, but there were too many of what Art Laffer calls MEGO figures (my eyes glaze over).It's odd, because Cameron can speak so well when he needs to. Compared with the speeches we heard yesterday – from Michael Gove and IDS – it was oddly uninspiring. He spoke about his government's "beating, radical heart" with no real enthusiasm – as if he received the speech only recently, and didn't rehearse too much. It was too long, and repetitious in places.The best part was when he talked about the shift in power from state to society and asked his audience (in a roundabout way) what they could do for their country: demand a new school, take interest in a police beat, etc.The problem is that he's trying to resuscitate the big society agenda (or BS, as it's derisively known by activists). The latest effort: his "it takes two" riff at the end (as soon as I heard him say that, I knew what the closing song would be). The problem with the BS is that it disguises a good idea as a bad one - and Cameron's speech did likewise. It made a radical, energising agenda sound a bit average and dull. The reverse midas touch of the big society has struck again. Just as well for Cameron that his government's actions are speaking louder than his words.David CameronConservative conferenceConservativesChris RennardMichael HeseltineFrances O'GradyFraser Nelsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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