Live blog of Brown's speech

SPEECH ENDS - JUST OVER AN HOUR IN LENGTH.  NO MENTION OF DAVID CAMERON OR THE LIBDEMS.  I AGREE WITH WHAT JOHN PRESCOTT HAS JUST SAID ON BBC1: WHAT HE ANNOUNCED WILL BE "VERY COSTLY".  THANKS MR P FOR INADVERTENTLY TELLING THE TRUTH.  A SOLID SPEECH BUT NOT GREAT.  A REMINDER TO EVERY CONSERVATIVE THAT BROWN IS A BIG GOVERNMENT POLITICIAN.

Final message: I'll stand up for you.

3.23pm: The NHS saved me.  It saved my eyesight.  That's why the NHS matters to me.  My life has taught me that things don't come easy.  There are things worth fighting for.

3.22pm: £15bn investment in medical research.

3.21pm: A personal check up for every adult on the NHS.  SOME OF US WOULD SETTLE FOR A DENTIST.

3.19pm: Hospitals will be deepcleaned.  The number of Matrons will be doubled.  Matrons will be able to report cleaning contractors that fail.

3.16pm: The NHS best illustrates our commitment to each other.  The great ambition is to make the NHS as personal as it is universal.

3.14pm: Three objectives in Iraq and Afghanistan: Security. Political Reconciliation. Economic development.

3.13pm: Tribute to Neil Kinnock.

3.12pm: Tribute to Tony Blair - particularly on Northern Ireland.  WARM APPLAUSE AND A FEW WHISTLES.

3.10pm: Tribute to EU and UN.  Human rights are universal and no injustice can last forever - whether in Burma or Zimbabwe.  We will not fail the people of Darfur.

3.09pm: Britain is first nation in the world to have binding carbon emmissions.

3.06pm: Border police.  ID cards for foreign nationals.  Australian points system introduced.  Everyone will be counted in and out.  GREAT BRIAN HANRAHAN RHETORIC BUT YOUR GOVERNMENT ABOLISHED EMBARKATION CONTROLS, MR BROWN! Any immigrant caught selling drugs will be thrown out of Britain.

3.04pm: Dormant money in unclaimed bank accounts - £670m - will be used to build new youth centres.

3.03pm: Shops that sell alcohol to underaged young people will lose their licences.

3pm: There will be 10,000 new handheld computers so that police officers can process paperwork without going back to police stations.

2.57pm: Housebuilding up to 240,000 every year.  WHY NOT 300,000?!  New Towns - Eco Towns will be built.  Not five as previously announced but ten!  50% increase in spending on social housing.

2.56pm: Pensioners' earnings link restored.  Minimum wage will keep rising.  British jobs for British workers phrase gets a mention.

2.54pm: Long section on how wonderful the economy is and how it had nothing to do with the Tories.

2.49pm: Paid maternity leave now nine months.  Soon to be twelve.  More childcare places.  More socialism. (HE DIDN'T ACTUALLY SAY THE LAST BIT).

2.46pm: In the next generation we will abolish child poverty.  We will support all children and all families.  NOT, MR DACRE, MR BROWN'S NOT TOO CODED ATTACK ON DAVID CAMERON'S (AND YOUR) EMPHASIS ON MARRIAGE.

2.44pm: 300,000 students to be on full grants.  TONY WON'T BE PLEASED.  300,000 MUST BE TODAY'S MAGIC NUMBER.

2.42pm: Free education from three to 18. Aspiration to deliver five hours of sport a week for children.

2.40pm: Something specific! 300,000 children will receive one-to-one help with English and Maths.

STILL WAITING FOR SOMETHING SPECIFIC - SOME PROMISE TO UNDO THE SOCIAL IMMOBILITY OF THE LAST TEN YEARS WHEN MR BROWN WAS EFFECTIVELY IN CHARGE OF DOMESTIC POLICY...

2.35pm: In Britain today too many people - too many women - still aren't rising to where their talents can take them.  The country that brings out the best in all its people will be the great success story of the future.  How much talent is wasted because of a poverty of aspiration?

2.32pm: After a brief section on education he declares himself a politician of conviction.

2.29pm: Britain was tested in the summer of trials but we were not found wanting.  Britain can be equal to any challenge.  This country will not be broken by anyone or anything.  "I am proud to be British". My family taught me about duty, family, hard work, the importance of teaching everyone equally.  Each and everyone has a talent.

2.27pm: Tribute to armed forces and the victims of the floods. Britain has an "indestructible spirit".  Then he refers to the Foot & Mouth crisis.

2.26pm: After a lame joke he pays a handsome tribute to John Smeaton - a hero of the summer's failed terrorist attacks - who is in the hall - and then to all emergency services.

2.23pm: He begins speaking to blue background.  Slogan: The strength to change Britain.

Comments

[chrisblore]

The presence of the baggage handler from Glasgow is positively cringe-worthy political points scoring by Brown.

[chrisblore]

Does anyone feel like we know more about Brown's parents than we do him and what he personally stands for?

[Rob]

That bright blue background is astonishing. These things don't happen by accident and the fact Brown is addressing the Labour conference with the tribal colours of his opponents behind him is a very bold, which I don't think even Blair dared.

[englandism]

Scotsman speak with blue tongue.

Did anyone catch Wendy Alexander earlier?

"In their desperate attempt to play to a sense of English Nationalism, the Tories will attack our Prime Minister for being a Scot."

Apparently, Cameron is a feverish English nationalist? Meanwhile, back with not attacked for being a Scotsman Brown...

[Steve Green]

Was Max reading from the Big red book of Labour sleaze?

[justin Hinchcliffe]

About turn! Left! Left! Left! Bring back Hezza!

[Iain]

The old fraud talks of equality of opportunity, I hope some Conservative MP will remind everybody it was Brown who marshalled Scottish MP's through the lobbies to carry the vote to put top up fees on English students.

So much for equality in the UK under Labour.

[Tony Makara]

Gordon Brown's comments on his poor old friends and education and exclusion because of finance are so bare-faced from a government that saddled our young with university tuition fees. Hair-raising hypocracy from Brown.

[Teesbridge]

I love the tractor-production promises like the English/Maths one.

How astonishing that the number needing help with Maths is so conveniently round, and that we needn't worry about child number 300,001...

[Michael Davidson]

Not a bad speech so far given that it's Brown and he's hardly the most charasmatic leader in the world.

Must say, he seems more relaxed than normal - you'd think he'd be as nervous as anything right now.

I think we all know the Glasgow baggage-handler will be the main highlight on the news - yet another gimmick, but it's one that will actually work though. It shows he's supporting Britain and it's national security. Hope Cameron has something similar lined up, but I doubt it.

[Rugbytory]

Is it me or is he just recycling what Blair has said in his speeches for the last 10 years?

How many people believe that what he says will actually happen now when they have had 10 years?

[Andrew Woodman]

Can't watch but what the hell is the blue background all about? How much further will he push the boundaries!

[Steve Green]

Little babies and little children. Isn't that sweet?

[justin Hinchcliffe]

He's talking about having no money not being a barrier to education - from a man who voted for tuition/top-up fees!

[Jonathan Sheppard]

How did he dare mention pensions!! Would he like to be reminded what his raid did to the fund I had paid into??

[Tony Makara]

Token references to the old and disabled. The spin doctors will have worked out the most impacting number of times to use these buzz words.

[justin Hinchcliffe]

As Chancellor, he's had twn years to restore the link between earnings and pensions. It was a Tory pledge at the last election...

[Tony Makara]

Yes, he said it, "Full Employment" just like he promised at the 1999 Labour conference. Even broken promises are being recycled!

[Steve Green]

Didn't Hitler promise German jobs to German workers?

[John Craig]

Britain isn't working - they are all on paid holiday or maternity leave!!

[Iain]

This is an election speech isn't it, for surely the Government finances can't afford all the promisies he has made?

[John Leonard]

Steve Green:

Shhhhhh... lizten to der Oberfuerher (or u vill be schott)

[mark]

I think he's doing well.Suppose that makes me a traitor.I view it as my party,the Conservative party as being a traitor to me.Anyone else feel the same?

[Jonathan Sheppard]

"Binge drinking unacceptable" - but 24 hr vertical drinking establishments are great according to this Government!

[Tony Makara]

I hope all these pie-in-the-sky promises have been costed? You could be right Iain. This sounds like a shopping list.

[James Burdett]

How can you process paperwork without paper? Also that seems like a nice target for a decent saving. Scrap the paperwork, scrap the order save a few million quid and employ more Police.

[Tony Makara]

So he is going to count everyone who comes into the country. Well, the time to have done that was ten years ago. Another admission of failiure.

[Steve Green]

Throw foreign criminals out? not if the EU have anything to say about it.

[Steve Green]

He's got some neck to mention manifesto commitments. EU?

[John Leonard]

Editor:

As a serious question is there a precedent for the Prime Minister to help himself to money in other people's bank accounts?

[Steve Green]

Red lines my ar*e. Thank God, I thought he may have done a U-turn on this. We've got him now.

[Afleitch]

As I've been saying elswhere on the blogosphere. Matrons - lifted from Michael Howard from April 5th 2005, stop and search, from David Davis August 3rd 2005. As for the border police, well he rubbished that idea at his first PMQ's and then stole it a few weeks later. There is a patern here and it's a challenge for all of us on Con Home - identify when and from whom Brown has lifted each proposal and then run with it.

[James]

Out of interest who are the people who sit on the stage behind Brown? (see first picture in the post)

[unidentified]

Do people feel there is enough by way of policy pledges to suggest an election? this seems more than just priorities.

[Tony Makara]

Big round of applause to former socialist firebrand Neil Kinnock, now the passive sated career-politican.

[Tony Makara]

Afleitch, you are right. Magpie Brown has no decent ideas of his own. Further proof, if needed, that this is a stale burnt-out government devoid of ideas.

[Tony Makara]

The right to see your NHS doctor when you want but what about if you are poor and need an NHS dentist?

[chrisblore]

All very nice-sounding Gordo, mostly the same in fact as your manifesto in 1997. So what exactly have you done in the last ten years and how do you intend to pay for it? Not by helping yourself to private money surely?!

[Bill Brinsmead]

He keeps referring to BRITAIN but most of his 5 year plan targets - on police, housing, student grants, sport, one-to-one help with English and Maths, health – apply only to ENGLAND.

Worse than Blair – WE CAN DEFEAT BROWN!

[Tony Makara]

Here we go, playing the blind-in-one -eye card.

[Afleitch]

At the close of conference we should take the time to identify where the 'echo' on each announcement came from. Then we can tell Britain, here's what Brown has poached, here's what we have to offer. We need to neutralise Brown's ability to blatantly lift other parties policy and perform multiple u-turns without the media taking note.

[Steve Green]

This is an election speech. It's a good job he didn't have to travel to an English hospital to get his eye looked at. He would have further to travel because the local A&E has been shut down. And to add insult to injury he would have to pay for the parking.

[Edison Smith]

I simply cannot listen to this man speak.

He's got such a depressing speaking manner; at least Tony entertained you whilst he spoke bollocks. Brown just talks bollocks and bores you to death!

Feel like I've got to take a lie down in a darkened room for a bit.

This speech has cheered me up though; it's so uninspiring (delegates don't know when to clap, it's EXACTLY the same as the spew of the past 10 years, and you could hear the room cringe when he spoke about immigration and the EU Treaty - they know they're on the wrong side of public opinion on these.

It reminded me that Brown and his chronies are perfectly defeatable.

[Tony Makara]

Prepare ye for the soviet style ten-year-plan. A plan that will produce nothing but more statism and broken social services.

[chrisblore]

Does anyone else think that Gordo looks rather out of place with that soundtrack?

[Tony Makara]

Edison Smith, you are right. Gordon Brown is stodgy and has a constipated verbal style. He is going to look very languid against dynamic David Cameron.

[Malcolm Dunn]

I was sorry to be in a meeting for most of this.Reading your editorial and also the comments of other posters it does seem like a wish list of uncosted aspirations which one might expect from a Lib Dem leader rather than a serving prime minister.I appreciate Conhome might not be the very best place to ask for an objective view but for those of us who missed the speech I'm very interested to hear how people think it went down in the hall and what the media initial reaction is.
PS Tim I'm really impressed that you're able to listen to the speech,blog the salient points and put up commenters posts all at the same time! How do you manage that?

[Jim Tague]

As they say on the terraces...Boring, Boring, Brown!

It's worse than watching Sunderland when we were relegated with the lowest ever points tally in the Premiership.

Did they hand out pillows upon entry?

[Jack Stone]

Nice to hear Conservatives attacking our political enemies and not fellow Conservatives.Much more of it please then we will truly have a chance of kicking this government of frauds out of power.

[Edison Smith]

Tony - agreed.

Cameron's greater ease in public, combined with his superior, articulate communication would pay dividends on a 3 week election campaign.

[Traditional Tory]

Why is everybody responding to this speech (which I haven't yet heard) with two-liners, mostly catty?

Right now Brown's on so much of a roll that he could have read a couple of pages of the telephone directory and got a thunderous standing ovation.

The Cameron challenge is revealed to have been from the first based on a total misreading of the political situation. Few of us could have guessed how popular Brown would become, but those of us who held from an early stage that Cameron's run of luck was chiefly based on anti-Blair sentiment are now thoroughly vindicated.

But I'm not calling for Cameron to go.

It's too late.

[RDC]

OK all, so those of you who somehow think "Gordon" has Mrs T's approval should now be quiet! Do you think there is any real pledge in that speech she would approve of? Will those who so long for "conservative" purity that they long to lose ( and have ever since the early 1990's) now, or ever, shut up. I write as a member since 1972 who believes we NEED a conservative government now (and backs David Cameron)and cannot stand the lack of discipline. I am not that anti-europe, but you now know where Gordon stands and you who help him are the people who let down our country.No referendum with him, one with us. End of story.

[Edison Smith]

As RDC says, that speech just served as a reminder to the electorate of the failures of the past 10 years, and how big government Socialist Brown is.

No doubt the BBC etc will paint it as quite something different.

I can visualise Nick Robinson smirking even now, preparing to preach a 'Brown Big Tent' extravaganza to the camera...

[Dale]

I have been a member of the tory party since i was 15, and gordon has got my vote.

[IRJMilne]

The Tory conference must feel wholesome and substantial. The main thing we learn from Brown's popularity is that, in the end, people are glad to be rid of Blair.

We should portray Brown as a grey, socialist liar, which this speech has shown him to be; but ultimately, if Labour doesn't fumble, they won't be dislodged - parties lose elections more often than they win them.

[Tony Makara]

As a teenager I used to be facinated by short-wave radio and often listened to radio Tirana from communist Albania. They would run hour long speeches by leader Enver Hoxha where he would drone on about agricultural targets being reached and the like. Of course everything Enver Hoxha said was a fantastic distortion of the truth, as was today's speech by Gordon Brown. Even down to the staged applause and the ten-year-plan, the similarity between Gordon Brown and Enver Hoxha was chilling.

[Gordon Hetherington]

He didn't even mention DC. What Brown has done is practically shoot every fox in his speech and I reckon Team Cameron will not be able to wipe out Labour's impressive lead. The swing towards Lab in council seats is even nore worrying and we all know the importance of Worcester woman and what that means to the election outcome.

[Iain]

As much of the ideas Brown has proposed have been nicked from Conservative policies, Conservative policies Labour have rubbished, and now U turning on, I hope Conservative HQ will be forensically dissecting the speech, making damn sure people know about Brown's U turns. The cant and hypocrisy of his claims, like educational opportunity for all, when he was the one to push Scottish Labour MP's through the lobbies to vote top up fees on English students, the crocodile tears he shed for pensioners when he denies home care for the elderly in England, and finnally the cost of all his proposals, for I believe he has added £39 billion to spending up to this speech, and the promises he made in the speech are going total a great deal more.

[englandism]

'Final message: I'll stand up for you.'

One of the stalwart chants of the tartan army football terraces is 'stand up if you hate England'. This stand-up comedian Brown needs to catch up with popular culture pretty damn fast or sack his writers.

[Chad Noble]

"NO MENTION OF DAVID CAMERON OR THE LIBDEMS.

Which, cleverly, will make Cameron look negative and catty if his speech is not fully about his own positive vision for Britain rather than an attack on his opponent.

Team Brown may rightly be described as 'formidable' right now, but (small ray of hope)that is fortunately only relative to their current opposition.

[Iain]

"I have been a member of the tory party since i was 15, and gordon has got my vote."

Labour have discriminated against Ebnglish people, I am sorry you see fit to reward this racism with your vote.

But as much of the reasonable policies Brown announced, like a border police force, like a points system immigration system, etc Conservatives have been pushing for for years. So why vote for a party, Labour, who come round to the policies years late!

[Malcolm Dunn]

What foxes did Brown shoot Gordon?, I genuinely can't see any.

[Traditional Tory]

COMMENT OVERWRITTEN BY THE EDITOR.

[HF]

I wonder when the SNP will pick him up on the fact that as others point out all the education and health items are things he has no right to speak of as British matters?

[Mike A]

"The cant and hypocrisy of his claims, like educational opportunity for all, when he was the one to push Scottish Labour MP's through the lobbies to vote top up fees on English students, the crocodile tears he shed for pensioners when he denies home care for the elderly in England..."

Your proposals sound horribly expensive...

[michael m]

A typical Brown speech- nothing during the last ten years that has gone wrong is anything to do with him, but he is now going to do something about it.
How he distanced himself from the foot and mouth situtaion was breathtaking.

I wish oh I wish there was someone in the party who can expose with just a few chosen words all this spin, sham and humbug.

We are all being brainwashed yet again by the Labour spin machine

Has the Shadow Cabinet returned from holiday yet? I only ask as we never see them

[Mike A]

COMMENT OVERWRITTEN FOR USING A WORD UNKNOWN TO THE EDITOR!

[RDC]

Our foxes shot?What? Brown made a potentially critical mistake today. In my humble view, if he had changed his mind and offered a referendum on the EU Treaty ("listening to the people" (aka R Murdoch))then a number of the slightly stranger rightwingers might have used that as an excuse to jump ship (Dacre.., right or wrong, fair or unfair. But now he has pinned himself to his position. I am not arguing that the EU issue is critical, but it should make voting for UKIP or Labour intellectually impossible for those who want a referendum. Look at the Sun poll on this. Tories - discipline, focus, win (sorry, bit enthusiastic there..).

[Malcolm Dunn]

Oh come on Editor! What word was that?

[Tony Makara]

Traditional Tory, wow, so you used to tune in too! That girl who spoke on radio Tirana had a delicious voice. I think that was a ploy of the reds though because I once wrote to radio moscow for some DX cards and noting my age they sent back some brochures about the soviet pioneers and I couldn't help but notice that every girl on every picture was absolutely beautiful. I used to listen to all the eastern block broadcasts, Tirana was definately the most hardcore communist. They had a most bizarre way of doing things. On call signals do you remember the tune for radio peace and progress? It was a more ideological version of radio moscow, if thats possible?

I didn't know that Xoxha shot people at cabinet meetings, echo's of Saddam's sons there. Don't suppose there is much chance of that with Brown. He just condemns them to obscurity, like Ruth Kelly who slides down the career ladder with every re-shuffle. Right now I thik she has already reached the political equivalent of 'long stop'

[David]

I won't hold my breath, but one very easy question the media can ask is if, as Brown maintains, the last 10 years of a Labour government have been so good for the country, why are all these high cost plans needed for so very many people?

[mark]

The Tories need to focus on the fact that we are getting the same re-hashed promises.Where has Gordon Brown been for the past 10 years? It was however a good speach as speaches go and unfortunately many will swallow it.

[Iain]

"Has the Shadow Cabinet returned from holiday yet? I only ask as we never see them"

It needs one of them to get out there an put the counter message from the Labour BBC love in, for the BBC won't critically look at the speech, so unless the Conservatives get out there an put the other side to the spin, it won't happen.

[Steve Green]

RDC has it the nail on the head. The EU is going to be worth a few points. Unity in the party will be mean a few more. And three weeks of Cameron giving Brown a lesson in public speaking could see us win.

[TD]

The £670m for youth services isn't new money. It's based on existing funding for youth services and spread over three years.

Another example of Brownian mathematics.

[Iain]

"Your proposals sound horribly expensive..."

If services are to be offered, they should be available to all, and debated whether they can be afforded for all or nothing. To just offer the service to one nationality group, yet deny others the same services, is just plain discrimination.

[Prentiz]

This isn't an election speech at all. There's virtually no beef here whatsoever. Brown isn't going to the country with a promising an NHS check up and more computers for police - neither of these are exactly campaign winning pledges!

When the time comes he will hit us with a barrage of pledges that are easily explicable to the public and easy for candidates to communicate on the doorstep (which I'd bet will include a promise to cut taxes - possibly council tax).

If anything this speech confirms that there won't be an election this year.

[Gordon Hetherington]

GB on gun crime "That is why, wherever there are guns, we are going to take action to get them out of these communities.

"Four cities have 75 per cent of the gun crime and gun deaths. We look at the areas where there are the greatest problems and we use stop-and-search powers, we use dispersal powers where necessary.

On underage drinking: "I will send out a message today to those shops and supermarkets that are selling alcohol to under-age drinkers that we will be tougher and tougher so that we don't allow drink to fall into the hands of young people in such a way that we have binge-drinking and this terrible problem of behaviour in our city centres and sometimes our town centres."

On MRSA and hospital superbugs "Ward sisters will have new powers. Cleaning contractors will have to be under the supervision of the Healthcare Commission. We will make sure, just as we have been dealing with MRSA, we are going to deal also with this new bug C.difficile.

"Everybody has a right to expect, when you go into hospital, you are not just treated as a person and not a number, but it is going to be clean, it is going to be safe it is going to be secure.

I want to reassure people that we are taking every step possible to do it. It will cost money, but it is the right thing to do."

Education, crime and Health will be key battleground areas.

Brown is seen as a strong leader with strong values. DC seen as lightweight and without substance. The Grammar school row highlights DC's complete lack of political acumen and strength of leadership.

I am in despair at how the Party can win! Osborne and others have been found wanting by totally underestimating Brown!

[Bruges Group NG]

A quick wake up call.

The Cameroons (like Louise Bagshawe) placed great store in the local Govt gains last time as proof that their strategy was working. We lost a council seat to Labour in Worcester last week on an 18% swing. Just about every Labour MP in a marginal seat I have heard over the last couple of days thinks that they will both win, and increase their majority.

My own seat has a 5,000 Tory majority, the feeling I get on the ground is that we will lose it. If we do, we are looking at a Parliamentary Party of around 150 post Cameron. It is that serious. Our leadership has absolutely no resonance with many parts of my Tory electorate. We look like a bunch of pompous, posh rich boys.

Its partly our message- too Notting Hill-centric for many tastes and sadly too demotivating to tempt many of our core back, added to the messengers, who look a tad smug and pleased with themselves sitting in their 5 storey houses in West London while lecturing the rest of us.

Can anyone seriously imagine Cameron standing up next week and repeating last year's soundbite:

"Let sunshine win the day" (or whatever it was, it was so trite I have forgotten).

[Teck]

It's how the public receives Gordon Brown's speech that's important. Our opinion is not.

On the other hand, we must unite and hope that our Team's performance at Blackpool sends the right counter-Labour messages and is even more brilliantly voter-friendly.

[Malcolm Dunn]

And you believe some of this stuff Gordon? Brown has had ten years to do something about it and hasn't.
The bit about MRSA has been lifted directly from the Conservatives and your not seriously suggesting that we are going to get Grammar schools from a Brown government are you?

[Mike H]

Bypass Police paperwork by using computers....

Oh God, not another government IT project that will fail before it gets launched.

[Iain]

"Ward sisters will have new powers. Cleaning contractors will have to be under the supervision of the Healthcare Commission. We will make sure, just as we have been dealing with MRSA, we are going to deal also with this new bug C.difficile."

And what was Conservative policy at the last election?

Michael Howard made a specific policy commitment on this, and made it a campaigning point. Conservatives need to remind everybody about this, and as thousands of people are dying because of dirty hospitals, point out the cost in lost lives waiting for Labour to give this the importance it deserves.

This is only a strong issue for Labour if the Conservatives let them. Ram home the points Conservatives were making at the last election, it then becomes a weakness and liability for them.

And that goes for much of what he announced. .

[David Lindsay]

As a half-Scot, I think that I have cracked the extraordinary and very obvious hatred between Gordon Brown and David Cameron. A lot of people here won't like it, though.

Although, to the best of my knowledge, my cousins called Cameron are not related to Dave (but we are all distantly related to Alistair Darling, apparently), it is certainly a very Scottish name, like Lindsay. And one of David Cameron's three houses is on the Isle of Jura.

David Cameron is a posh Scot. Not a borderline case like Tony Blair or Iain Duncan Smith, but the real deal. His English public school, his Oxford degree, his marriage into the English baronetage, and (these days) his Southern English seat are all part and parcel of this.

Therefore, he simply cannot believe that a state school and Scottish university son of the manse from Kirkcaldy has the audacity to be Prime Minister instead of him. And Brown knows perfectly well that those are his views.

[Scotty]

"Brown is seen as a strong leader with strong values. DC seen as lightweight and without substance. The Grammar school row highlights DC's complete lack of political acumen and strength of leadership"

A strong leader delivers on his rhetoric!!
Watching the way that Brown has behaved in recent months has really shown that when it comes to conviction and courage, Cameron beats him hands down!!!!!

[TD]

Gordon Hetherington

On gun crime Brown's promised to keep using the same old measures Labour's been trying for years and they are measures to deal with antisocial behaviour not gun crime.

On underage drinking again Labour have been saying they'll do something about this for years but nothing's changed.

On clean hospitals - it was an election issue back in 2005 and Labour promised to sort it out time and time again. Now they're promising to sort it out again - when are they going to actually do it.

And the grammar schools row just shows out of touch some party members are not just with the public but also with their own party since it has been Conservative policy to build more grammar schools for years.

Gordon Brown's got nothing new to offer but the same old broken promises.

[Dale]

'"Let sunshine win the day" (or whatever it was, it was so trite I have forgotten).'

I haven't:

'Let optimism beat pecimism, Let sunshine win the day!'

[Rugbytory]

Gordon Hetherington, people need reminding of the last 10 years. If you go through the speech you’ll find it's just a list of recycled promises that Labour have failed to deliver on after a decade in power and recycled Tory ideas. Some examples:

- The talk about “equality of opportunity” this was covered and the eaxct phrase used by David Cameron on 7th September 2007
- His call for more matrons, putting matron in charge. Called for by Michael Howard 5th April 2005
- Stop and search was called for by David Davis on August 3rd 2005
- And then there’s the border police, Cameron questioned Brown on it in his first PMQ’s but Brown rejected the need for it, a u-turn is done a few weeks later..

I could go on but I think we’ve all had enough shopping list rants for one day!

I was quite surprised that he didn't end with "we are thinking what you're thinking"

One wonders, can magpie and flip-flopper Brown actually formulate any Ideas of his own? Surely to goodness it can only be a matter of time before people realise that Cameron is setting the agenda and coming up with the ideas.

[Snegchui]

RugbyTony
"One wonders, can magpie and flip-flopper Brown actually formulate any Ideas of his own? Surely to goodness it can only be a matter of time before people realise that Cameron is setting the agenda and coming up with the ideas."
I doubt it. Let's face it anybody with Brown's track record in professional relationships who can say with a straight face , and get away with it
"And I have never forgotten my father telling me to "treat everyone equally with respect".
He can sell ice to the eskimos and the rest.
There is a lot in the speech that is dishonest and open to challenge, but if the
Tory Party wish to succeed, those challenges will have to explicit and they will have to be a lot better put together than the feeble flapping shown in the Northern Rock fiasco. Dear God, a good politico should have had a field day with Brown and Darling and the comments from the queues,but what did we get?? Simon Jenkins in the the Sunday Times did a better number.

[Traditional Tory]

Traditional Tory, wow, so you used to tune in too! That girl who spoke on radio Tirana had a delicious voice

Yes I remember her Tony. It was rather fascinating. Years later I met a former schoolmate who had become a travel agent in Tirana post-Hoxha.

To be accurate, I think Hoxha shooting a cabinet member was a one-off. I see the editor has deleted my post, perhaps due to my reference to certain >>cough<<< alleged preferences of the dictator.

And I didn't say a thing about Cameron...