Conference blog

Today was not a good day for David Cameron. The controversy in the morning over lines in his speech referring to personal debt threatened to overshadow the address itself - and when it came, it was rather underwhelming.

Cameron looked tired and sounded hoarse, which was unfortunate given his emphasis on "can-do optimism". There wasn't much here in the way of policy, simply an attempt to encourage positivity - a ... read more

15:47 Closing his speech, Cameron returns to the theme of optimism. "It's not the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog," he says. Our best days are ahead of us. But with unemployment up and growth down, how many will feel the same way?

15:45 Now it's health and safety. "Britannia didn't rule the waves with her armbands on," says Cameron, ... read more

After his politically toxic and economically illiterate comments on household debt were roundly denounced this morning, it's no surprise that David Cameron has rewritten his conference speech.

The PM was due to say:

"The only way out of a debt crisis is to deal with your debts. That means households - all of us - paying off the credit card and store card bills. It means ... read more

David Cameron's big day hasn't got off a good start. Ahead of his speech at 2:30pm, it's emerged that the economy grew by even less than we thought this year.

The Office for National Statistics has just revised down growth for the second quarter of this year from 0.2 per cent to 0.1 per cent, and growth for the first quarter of this year from 0.5 ... read more

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Leave aside the economics for now, David Cameron's call for households to clear their debts is terrible politics. In his speech at the Conservative conference today, he will say:

"The only way out of a debt crisis is to deal with your debts. That means households - all of us - paying off the credit card and store card bills."

At a time ... read more

Prime Minister David Cameron will address the Tory conference at 14:30. He will talk about the "anxious time", in which we find ourselves at present, but try to encourage voters by saying that the economy can still be lifted out of its current state.

Despite the job losses, high housing prices and austerity measures, he will say that British people should not be weighted down by "gloom and fear". ... read more

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Theresa May alarmed Tory delegates earlier today when she claimed that the Human Rights Act prevented the deportation of an illegal immigrant because he had a pet cat. She told the hall:

We all know the stories about the Human Rights Act. The violent drug dealer who cannot be sent home because his daughter - for whom he pays no maintenance - lives here. The robber who ... read more

Boris Johnson's speech to the Conservative conference wasn't one of his most memorable. The hall was half empty (security arrangements delayed many) and there were fewer jokes than usual. But the London Mayor fired a notable warning shot at David Cameron over police cuts. He vowed that he would "not allow police numbers to fall below a number that I believe is safe and reasonable". As Boris made his pledge, ... read more

How toxic is the Tory brand? It's a question that often occupies the mind of Andrew Cooper, David Cameron's director of strategy, who has consistently warned the Prime Minister that his party is still loathed by many of the voters that it needs the support of to win a majority next time round.

With this in mind, we conducted a poll with ICD Research on the subject, and the results make ... read more

George Osborne's speech had two distinct purposes. The first and most obvious was to show that the government is not complacent about the stagnating economy and the effect it is having. This he aimed to do with a rash of announcements, the most significant of which is surely the interest in "credit easing", by which the Treasury lends directly to firms. As my colleague George points out, this ... read more

As ever, George Osborne summoned a special chutzpah for his speech to the Conservative conference. In the midst of a growth crisis, he warned that "we should not talk ourselves into something worse", as if he had never spread the myth that Britain was on the "brink of bankruptcy". He insisted that the government could not afford to borrow a billion more to stimulate the economy, forgetting that ... read more

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12.37: "I do not pretend these are not difficult days," he says, finishing by repeating that new catchphrase -- "we will ride out this storm together".

12.35: Osborne says that council tax will stay frozen for another year -- which, as my colleague George Eaton pointed out this morning, is an old policy.

12.33: All this is cover for the fact ... read more