Last Friday, before heading to Birmingham with the rest of the party faithful, I called on David Cameron to use this party conference to set out his vision for the future and to place the Conservative party firmly on the side of hardworking families across the UK. I am delighted that David Cameron delivered this vision in his best speech yet and also provided a summary of what Conservatism means in practice for our country.
The central message in his speech was a commitment to aspiration and he outlined the core message underpinning the Conservative ideology as wanting to “get behind people who want to get on in life” and that the first rule of being a Conservative is that “it’s not where you’ve come from that counts, it’s where you’re going”.
David Cameron’s speech provided the finale for the message that we have heard throughout the conference on how “Britain can deliver as an aspirational nation”.
Before conference had even begun, the Daily Telegraph interviewed me setting out what ambitions Conservative Future Women had for conference and I also set out my personal views about what Cameron needed to deliver in a live interview Sunday morning on Sky News.
When Iain Duncan Smith spoke about his radical welfare reforms the mood inside the hall was electric, with delegates listening intently. Minutes away and outside the secure area, The Freedom Zone attracted huge turnouts and held a series of debates in conjunction with other organisations such as The Taxpayers’ Alliance and the Trade Union Reform Campaign. Headed up by the legendary Simon Richards, this year he attracted high-profile speakers such as Liam Fox and Eric Pickles who debated the issue of ‘pilgrims’ with delegates.
I was lucky to attend a whole host of receptions at conference such as the infamous narrow-boat booze cruise where we mixed with other delegates, the London Reception with both Boris & Cameron and other legendary receptions such as the local government one where Eric Pickles rallied the troops.
Birmingham was a significant next step for us, setting out our vision and message. Now, buoyed up by our theme of aspiration I now aim for Cameron to deliver his message of aspiration and fairness.
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