Les anglonautes

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This newspaper is not publishing the actual allegations. Not only do they differ from the highly coloured rumours about royal affairs which have surfaced recently in the tabloids, but we also have no reason to believe the allegations are true. The saga shows the extraordinary lengths to which both sides are going in the bitter battle between scandal-hungry tabloids and an increasingly bruised royal household.

The Mail on Sunday told Buckingham Palace at the weekend that it was preparing to print a sensational 3,000-word article based on an affidavit by a former royal servant. This followed the publication of the former butler Paul Burrell's memoirs using intimate letters from Diana, Princess of Wales, and Prince Philip.

We'd just lost a second general election.

We'd seen a good man resign and we'd gone through

a lengthy leadership contest.

Labour were 20 points ahead in the polls.

Let's face it: we were being written off.

I knew that unless we could define what we stood for,

unless we could find policies that would benefit

everyone in our country, no-one would even listen to us.

Well, today, I have delivered. I stand before you

with the most radical policy agenda of any party aspiring

to government since 1979.

They said we couldn't win the elections in May and we did.

We are the largest and fastest growing party of local government,

we've the largest and fastest growing political youth organisation

in the country.

My mission is to take the Conservative Party back to government.

I won't allow anything or anyone to get in my way.

We must destroy this double-dealing, deceitful, incompetent,

shallow, inefficient, ineffective, corrupt, mendacious,

fraudulent, shameful, lying government, once and for all.

I say to everyone here today: you either want my mission

or you want Tony Blair. There is no third way.

To those who doubt and to those who deliberate, I say this:

Don't work for Tony Blair - get on board or get out of our way

for we have got work to do.

And to the prime minister I say this:

the quiet man is here to stay and he's turning up the volume -

government never there when you need it,

always there when you don't.

The Conservative Party has always stood for hard-working,

law-abiding people and we stand for them again today.

On their side against the most dishonest

and incompetent government of modern times.

A government that's never there when people need it

but always there when they don't.

Think about everyday life.

You struggle to get to work because the traffic's jammed.

Where did all that extra petrol tax go?

More and more of your day is spent dealing with

government's petty regulations.

They waste your time - they wear you down.

You work longer, too

- to make up for the extra tax you're now paying.

You get home late - to find your daughter's been bullied at school.

You know it's not the teachers' fault.

The government won't let them exclude the bullies.

They're the same gang that stole your son's mobile last week.

The police don't have enough officers to catch the culprits.

So, they offer a crime number instead, as if that's good enough.

And then Gran's on the phone - her operation's been cancelled again.

It seems the doctor says he must give priority to other patients

to meet Tony Blair's targets.

Gran doesn't count.

Government - always there when you don't need it:

with its extra taxes and bureaucracy never there when you do.

Never there in the fight against crime,

never there to give you and your family the schools

and hospitals that you have paid for.

Blair must go.

You don't expect the earth just a fair deal.

But in Labour's Britain, government is on people's backs,

but never on their side.

Tony Blair's in your face when you don't need hassle,

out of the country when you need help.

Labour isn't working again.

People have seen through Labour

and they've seen through Tony Blair, too.

He said he had no plans to increase taxes

- then increased them sixty times.

He promised to be fair - but plundered the lifetime savings

of people preparing for retirement.

He pledged to be tough on crime - but gun crime has doubled.

Do you remember he said he'd be whiter than white?

Or do you most remember Eccelestone? Geoffrey Robinson?

Mandelson's home loan? Mittalgate? The Hinduja affair?

Mandelson - again!

Scandal after scandal.

Scandals that revealed this government's dark side.

But these were just a curtain-raiser

for this prime minister's blackest act.

This government used Dr David Kelly

as a pawn in its battle with the BBC.

His death was first and foremost

a tragedy for those who loved him

but it shamed our country

- it shamed our whole political system.

Immediately after Dr Kelly's death,

Tony Blair said he'd had nothing to do

with his public naming - that was a lie.

Tony Blair chaired the meetings

that made the fatal decisions,

he is responsible,

he should do the decent thing and he should resign.

But, of course, he won't.

He won't do the decent thing - he never does.

He won't even tell you the truth.

Six years after Tony Blair entered Downing Street -

people no longer believe a word he says anymore.

And his promises of 'jam tomorrow' are least believed of all.

The day when we drive Mr Blair out of office

cannot come soon enough

and that day is fast approaching.

When you next feel a hand on your shoulder, Mr Blair,

it won't be that hand of history,

it will be grip of the British people - dragging you from office.

Being a taxpayer has become the hardest job in Britain.

At the heart of the Conservative Party's fair deal

will be a fair deal for taxpayers.

Across the world, our competitors are cutting taxes

because tax cuts create jobs, wealth and growth

but in Britain the tax burden is rising and it's rising fast.

Mr Blair promised the British people

that he had "no plans to increase taxes at all".

No plans? Tax on mortgages, tax on pensions,

tax on house buying, tax on petrol,

tax on marriage, tax on self-employment, tax on cars,

tax on health insurance,

a 70% increase in council tax,

an £8bn National Insurance hike, a tax on jobs.

Mr Blair has taken money

from people struggling to make ends meet

and poured it into schemes that will never work.

Labour's waste of taxpayers' money is a crime.

A crime that hurts pensioners and low-paid workers most of all.

For some families Labour's tax rises mean no holiday this year.

The children's clothes must last even longer.

Millions have to work extra hours to make ends meet.

Labour has raised taxes but not improved Britain's public services.

The Conservative mission is to reform public services

and to be a lower tax government than Labour.

We'll be tough on tax and tough on the causes of tax!

The greatest cause of increasing tax is increasing waste

- 70% of taxpayers think Labour wastes their money

and they're 100% right.

This Labour government will never give taxpayers value for money

but Conservatives will.

In local government,

Conservatives already deliver better services for less tax.

As Michael Howard said yesterday in his excellent speech,

Conservatives believe in low taxes

- we will always be a lower tax government than Labour.

And yes we plan to cut taxes.

We are fortunate to have Michael leading our Treasury team.

Michael, I understand that relations are not so rosy in the red corner.

I've heard that the only colour Carole Caplin won't allow

in Number Ten is brown.

Gordon Brown is the biggest tax raiser in British history

but Charlie Kennedy wants to raise them even further

- except on wines and spirits, of course.

The Lib Dems want a local income tax,

a regional income tax and a new 50% tax band.

They pretend to be reasonable but they're not.

They don't want to give convicted paedophiles, rapists and murderers

tougher sentences - they want to give them the right to vote.

It's madness.

Utter madness.

In fact, I've just heard

that the Lib Dems are being investigated by trading

standards.

On all ballot papers they'll have to have a asterisk

after their party name:

warning contains nuts.

We all in this hall know

that the Liberal Democrats are no joke.

Their campaign book instructed them

to "be wicked, stir endlessly, act shamelessly"

and that's exactly what they do.

They promise things they know they'll never have to deliver.

They are not a fit party for government

and we are going after them.

Conservatives are the only real alternative to Labour.

Only we will properly reform public services,

only we will give choice to parents and patients.

Let me be clear what I mean by choice.

Choice in public services means peace of mind.

It means you won't be stuck with second-rate services.

It means there'll be an alternative school or hospital if you need it.

Under Labour only the wealthy can buy choice.

Conservatives will give every parent and every patient that choice.

No child left behind in a failing school

because our better schools passport will give every parent

the power to get their child into the right school.

The patient's passport will give every patient

the right to the treatment they need anywhere in the NHS

- and if they have to go outside the NHS we'll help them.

Students won't leave university saddled with a £30,000 debt

- we'll scrap Labour's tuition fees and we'll stop top-up fees, too.

Violent crime and disorder have rocketed under this government

and the asylum system is a disaster spiralling out of control.

While Tony Blair travels the world,

the world is travelling here.

As Oliver Letwin has pledged,

under the Conservatives

there'll be 80,000 fewer asylum seekers

- and 40,000 more police officers.

That's twelve more police forces

the size of the Lancashire Constabulary.

Labour wants to end the right to buy. John "three homes"

Prescott wants to take the right-to-buy away from other people.

Well - we're not afraid to fight you on that one,

John and I tell you this

- this time the punch is coming from the right!

Conservatives will always support

the right of people to own their homes

and we'll extend the right-to-buy

to one million housing association tenants.

And we'll use the proceeds

to end the outrage of children having to grow up

in temporary accommodation - the right to buy is back.

All of Labour's policies take power away from people.

Labour always say 'trust us'.

Conservatives will be different: we'll trust you.

With these and other policies

I am ready to fight this Labour Government.

Policies that will make lives better.

Policies that are Conservative through and through.

Policies that will win votes.

Our party is sometimes accused of being an old party.

I think, by the way, it's meant as an insult!

Well, when I became an MP, my father told me:

always respect pensioners and remember,

these are the people who put us here,

who gave us the freedom to be who we are.

They deserve decency and respect - they're not getting it.

Gordon Brown has forced

an extra million pensioners onto the means-test.

Two out of every three pensioners are now on social security.

For many people the means test has made it unprofitable

to save for retirement.

More means-testing, more tax, less savings. What a mess.

So we will raise the basic state pension,

in line with earnings to ensure that future generations of pensioners

never have to go begging for social security.

The abolition of the means test is supported by the savings industry,

it's supported by millions of pensioners and it's supported by me.

Most important of all, it's the right thing to do.

Love of this country flows from one generation to the next.

But Labour wants Britain to be something that it's no

- they are embarrassed by our island character.

Perhaps that's why Mr Blair would risk Britain's prosperity

by scrapping the pound.

Every European government that has given its people

a referendum on the euro has seen them reject it.

That's why Tony Blair doesn't have the guts to hold a referendum.

He knows - what we all know - he would lose.

So we may have frightened him off

holding a referendum on the euro for now

but we are now faced with an even graver danger

- a threat to our very nationhood.

The euro would take away

our power to decide our economic policy

but the European constitution would take away

our power to decide who governs Britain.

Think about it.

Our country: no longer able to control immigration,

no longer able to choose its allies,

no longer able to use British soldiers

to defend our interests abroad.

Unelected Commissioners would have the final say

in almost every government department

- affecting every aspect of our daily lives.

Yesterday the Conservative Party launched a nationwide campaign.

In every constituency in Britain,

Conservative associations will be collecting signatures

for a petition to Parliament.

That petition will demand that the British people have the final say

on the constitution - in a referendum.

Mr Blair: the powers you hold are not yours forever

- you hold them in trust, in trust from the British people.

Powers not yours to give away.

If the government does not give the British people

a say on the new constitution

that will not be the last word on the matter. Make no mistake.

I will fight with all my strength to defend the British people's

right to govern themselves.

And I put the government on notice. Michael Ancram

and I will lead the campaign across the nation

to fight for a referendum.

We will fight at next year's vital European elections,

we will fight in Parliament, we will fight at the general election.

And I promise you: I will fight, fight and fight again

to save the country that I love.

Conservatives want to build a New Europe

- not a single state with its own currency and constitution -

but a Europe of sovereign, enterprising nations.

A New Europe focused on today's problems;

not the problems faced and overcome by Europe's founders.

Fighting debt, disease and terrorism,

environmental destruction and poverty.

In the post 11 September world

global poverty is a challenge to our security.

The poor countries of today may become

the rogue nations of tomorrow.

Everyone on earth has the God-given right to live in a free country

- protected by the rule of law.

That's one of the reasons why I supported the war in Iraq.

I know some say the war was wrong and I respect their opinion

but I believe the world is better off today

because Saddam Hussein is no longer running Iraq.

I'm not going to twist or turn with the prevailing wind.

I won't play games with the defence of Britain.

We'll leave that for the Liberal Democrats.

Conservatives will never undermine our armed forces

- we'll always back them.

For Mr Blair, politics is everywhere and everything.

So, during the next election

don't be surprised when Labour play dirty.

A prime minister that lies about his own record

won't hesitate to lie about us.

A government machine willing to smear

the Paddington train crash survivors

and Dr Kelly won't think twice about smearing me.

A political party prepared to use the tragedy of 11 September

to bury bad news will do everything it can

to hide the scale of its own failure.

Did you see Tony Blair's performance in Bournemouth last week?

Did you? Did you hear that speech?

You know: I sometimes wonder if that guy lives

in the same world as the rest of us.

You see, in Blairworld things can only get better.

In Blairworld crime is down. In Blairworld taxes are low.

In Blairworld the trains run on time.

Last week he ended his speech with an air of omnipotence.

'Let it be done', he commanded.

You see, in Blairworld Tony thinks he's god.

But people don't live in BlairWorld they live in the real world

bedeviled by the daily hurt and failures of your government, Mr Blair.

Last week in Blairworld Tony boasted about winning against crime.

On the same day in the real world

a brave woman in Nottingham was shot dead

defending her daughter from robbers.

Last week in Blairworld Tony claimed that the economy was strong.

On the same day, in the real world,

550 workers at Britain's oldest commercial shipbuilders

were made redundant.

Last week in Blairworld Tony talked tough on asylum.

On the same day, in the real world,

bogus asylum seekers escaped

from one of his pathetic detention centres

when they should have been deported months ago.

Tony Blair's alright for the telly but he's all wrong for the country.

In the real world he's failing Britain and everybody knows it.

Gordon Brown knows it - he's even started to smile.

I know what I believe. I know what I value.

This card sets out my beliefs. I believe in hard work,

in rewarding people who play by the rules, in small government.

I believe in punishing criminals,

in trusting nurses, teachers, police officers.

I believe in a low tax economy.

I believe we all have a special duty of care

for the most vulnerable people in our country - children,

pensioners and the poor.

And, most of all, I believe in the sovereign right

of the British people to govern themselves.

This card sets out my priorities for government

- the priorities of the great team I'm proud to lead.

Theresa, our chairman, and the front bench teams

in the Commons and the Lords thank you all.

In our first term in Government,

our policies will deliver a fair deal for everyone:

no-one held back and no-one left behind.

Fundamental to my Conservatism is this double commitment:

a belief in aspiration and a belief in security for all.

Conservatives will always back the high achievers,

the entrepreneurs - life's gold-medallists.

From their endeavour all of society can progress.

Conservatives want individuals and families to fulfil their potential

and we trust them to build a society that respects everyone.

I'm appalled at the waste of talent - the depth of untapped potential -

within today's Britain.

Talent and potential that the challenges of our time desperately need

but which are suffocated by a government that steals the oxygen

from other living institutions.

Only when government steps back

will people and communities be free to build something better.

You see, I'm proud to be a Conservative.

Proud of our achievements, proud of our ambitions,

proud of the Conservative way

because it works for all the British people.

Let me tell you why I'm in politics.

It's certainly not for the newspapers headlines we get.

It's for the people in the film we just saw - and the millions just like them.

Jim Doherty is one of the most remarkable people I've ever met.

He runs a family support group in Glasgow's Gallowgate.

He told me: "We have already lost so many of our children to drugs.

"The battle we're fighting now is to save our grandchildren."

Jim looked me in the eye, and said:

"Don't promise the earth just give me something to hold on to,

just give me hope, we'll do the rest."

Jim, David, Janis, Frank, Anita you have my word I won't let you down.

Conservatives must win the next election not for ourselves

but for the hard-working, law-abiding people of Britain.

Government's on their backs

when they don't need help never on their side when they do.

Over the last few days, many of you have said to me:

"I bet your job's tough".

No. Well, actually, yes, it is tough.

But it's not as tough as seeing your children destroyed by drugs.

Not as tough as having a child with special needs

and seeing their school closed.

Not as tough as watching the business you've built up

by your own hard work, shut down by Labour's taxes.

I've got to be tough for these people.

Listen, listen you can hear, steady as a heartbeat,

the hurt and anger of the people of this country.

This Labour government cannot hear them

above the racket of its own spin and the rattle of its own demise.

But I've heard them. I've heard their anger.

Anger about the children on your street,

mugged on the way home from school.

Anger about your child, her hope destroyed by drugs.

Anger for your mother,

in agony because her operation has been cancelled again.

Anger at the way your pension savings have been eaten away.

These are the people I am in politics for.

These are the people who brought me here.

These are the people who sustain me.

The most remarkable, determined, compassionate, and tolerant people

on the face of the earth.

They are the British people

They are why I am here. They are why you are here.

Everyone in Britain deserves a fair deal - we must be on their side.

Our mission, our duty, is to bring them hope.

To fight for them, to be strong for them. To be here for them.

And, together, we must win for them.

I now look my age. You feel yours. I've had plenty of advice over what I should say in this speech. Some of it I have even asked for. One suggestion was leading you all in chorus of "Always look on the bright side of life."

So what do we do. Give up on it. Or get on with it? That's the question.

Yes the cynics say, New Labour's been a great electoral machine but you've done little with it.

I could recite you the statistics: The lowest inflation, mortgage rates, and unemployment for decades. The best ever school results, with over 60,000 more 11 year olds every year now reaching required standards in English and Maths. Cardiac deaths down 19 per cent since 1997, cancer deaths 9 per cent. Burglaries down 39 per cent.

But it's not statistics that tell us what has changed, it's people.

The lone parent I met, for years unemployed and unemployable. Now not just in work through the New Deal but winning promotion.

What mattered to her most? Not the money alone but the respect her child gained for her, seeing her work, grow in confidence, becoming a role model. One of two million people the New Deal has helped since 1997. That's what this Labour government has done for Britain.

Or the children I met this month at a brand new academy in Thamesmead in one of the most deprived estates in the country.

In the past, children skipped their old school as often as attending. And 2 years ago, just three pupils, yes three out of an entire year of 114, got 5 good GCSE passes.

That failing school now empty. In its place a new £31m building, on time. Where teachers want to teach. Young people want to learn and parents want their children to go.

In one year attendance has now reached over 90% and GCSE results have soared.

The new school, its new attitude was summed up by one young student who told me she had been badgering her mum all week to buy an alarm-clock, as she was scared of sleeping in case she missed a single lesson. What better symbol of the opportunities we are giving our children.

Or the young boy on Merseyside I met having treatment for cancer - every parent's nightmare - but whose parents can't praise enough the care and treatment he's received from the NHS.

No complaints from them. Just astonishment and admiration at the commitment and compassion of NHS staff and pride in our health service.

The money isn't wasted. It's not disappearing down some black hole. It's there in bricks and mortar, in computers and machines.

In 1997, nearly half, yes half of the hospital buildings in the NHS were built before it came into existence, and now it is down to a quarter and falling fast. That's the difference we are making in this country. And most of all, we should be proud of every single teacher, doctor, nurse and police officer we have recruited. Proud we have increased public service pay. It means we will recruit the thousands of extra staff we need but it also means we are beginning to reward properly the staff we already have for the superb job they do.

Add to that our constitutional change, devolution in Scotland and Wales, with nationalism now in disarray, self-government for London, the Freedom of Information Act, the Human Rights Act, the first open and transparent rules on Party funding.

And there is one piece of unfinished business which we will soon be completing. The abolition of the remaining hereditary peers. Never again in Britain will someone have the right to make laws which affect the lives of ordinary families solely because their ancestor was a duke, an earl or a viscount.

Add to that what we achieved for peace in Northern Ireland.

And let none of us forget, it is your Government that even in harsher economic times, is growing our aid budget, leading the way on cutting Third World debt, $70 billion already committed globally, and has just helped broker the deal that will give HIVAIDS patients in Africa improved access to drugs.

In a host of ways, from a strengthening of the law against racial violence, to equal rights for same sex couples, setting up the Disability Rights Commission, action on domestic violence, changes that will never be reflected in an opinion poll, rarely hit a headline, rarely be heard outside those who benefit from it, in a world where a grain of sensation gets more attention than a mountain of genuine achievements - that's the difference you have made to Britain.

So why is it so tough?

Government's tough. Fulfilling but tough. Opposition was easy.

All our MPs had to do was to go back to their constituencies and blame it on the Government. Some of them still do.

May 1997 was a unique moment. An abundance of expectation surrounded our arrival. A sense of hope beyond ordinary imagining. The people felt it. We felt it. Instead of reining in the expectation, we gave it free rein. It was natural, but born of inexperience. We thought change was a matter of will. Have the right programme, spend the right money and the job is done. But experience has taught us: the job is never done.

If we expected bouquets every day, we should have stayed in Opposition. We shouldn't want thanks. It's a privilege to do the job, however tough.

And in Government, you expect things to happen but the things that happen are not the things you expect, at least not on 1 May 1997.

Iraq has divided the international community. It has divided the party, the country, families, friends. I know many people are disappointed, hurt, angry. I know many profoundly believe the action we took was wrong . I do not at all disrespect anyone who disagrees with me. I ask just one thing: attack my decision but at least understand why I took it and why I would take the same decision again.

Imagine you are PM. And you receive this intelligence. And not just about Iraq. But about the whole murky trade in WMD. And one thing we know. Not from intelligence. But from historical fact. That Saddam's regime has not just developed but used such weapons gassing thousands of his own people. And has lied about it consistently, concealing it for years even under the noses of the UN Inspectors.

And I see the terrorism and the trade in WMD growing. And I look at Saddam's country and I see its people in torment ground underfoot by his and his sons' brutality and wickedness. So what do I do? Say "I've got the intelligence but I've a hunch its wrong?" Leave Saddam in place but now with the world's democracies humiliated and him emboldened?

You see, I believe the security threat of the 21st century is not countries waging conventional war. I believe that in today's interdependent world the threat is chaos. It is fanaticism defeating reason.

Suppose the terrorists repeated September 11th or worse. Suppose they got hold of a chemical or biological or nuclear dirty bomb; and if they could, they would. What then?

And if it is the threat of the 21st century, Britain should be in there helping confront it, not because we are America's poodle, but because dealing with it will make Britain safer.

There was no easy choice. So whatever we each of us thought, let us agree on this. We who started the war must finish the peace. Those British soldiers who died are heroes. We didn't regret the fall of Milosovic, the removal of the Taliban or the liberation of Sierra Leone and whatever the disagreement Iraq is a better country without Saddam.

And why do I stay fighting to keep in there with America on the one hand and Europe on the other? Because I know terrorism can't be defeated unless America and Europe work together. And it's not so much American unilateralism I fear. It's isolation. It's walking away when we need America there engaged. Fighting to get world trade opened up. Fighting to give hope to Africa. Changing its position for the future of the world, on climate change. And staying with it in the Middle East, telling Israel and the Palestinians: don't let the extremists decide the fate of the peace process, when the only hope is two states living side by side in peace.

And it's not Britain being swallowed up in some European federal nightmare as if Britain wasn't strong enough to hold its own, that I fear. It's Britain leaving the centre of Europe retreating to its margin at the very moment when the fate of Europe is being decided, 10 new nations and Britain's leadership has never been more essential. That's why apart from all the good economic reasons it is madness for Britain to give up the option of joining the Euro.

And I know both on terrorism and on Europe my views cause offence. But I can no more concede to parts of the left on the one than I can genuflect to the right over the other. Because I believe both positions are vital in delivering justice in a modern world.

The original Conference title read "Fairness For All". We changed it to "A Future Fair For All". Let us be absolutely clear about where we are today and why. Everything we have done has led up to this moment. To bring new hope and opportunity to the lives of all our citizens we always knew we would have to do something that Labour Governments have never succeeded in before - to renew in power, as we renewed to achieve power.

People ask me if I am surprised that things have got so tough. I say I am surprised it has taken so long. Why? I've been trying to say this to you for the best part of 10 years but never quite found the words.

But now I've hit the rough patch, its time to try again.

Up to now there has been a ritual to Labour Governments, Euphoria on victory. Hard slog in Government. Tough times. Party accuses leadership of betrayal. Leadership accuses Party of ingratitude. Disillusion. Defeat. Long period of Tory Government before next outbreak of euphoria. We've been far better at defeating ourselves than the Tories have ever been.

Apart from 1974-79, which was fragile from the first, each Labour Government has been a spasmodic interval punctuating otherwise unbroken Conservative rule. For too many of our 100 years we have been a well-intentioned pressure group. We fight injustice. We argue our causes. But our psychology has been that of people who know, deep down, someone else is the governing party and we are the ones championing the grievance.

So, after a time, after we have righted the most obvious wrongs of the Conservatives, we fold up. We return to our comfort zone.

Then came New Labour. From the outset, our opponents hated and feared us. They believe the Tories have a divine right to rule Britain and we are usurpers. They look at their own Party and feel contempt. And they hate us even more because they think we're responsible. And in a sense we are. By occupying the centre ground, by modernising, by reaching out beyond our activists, we helped turn the Tories into a replica of what we used to be. A narrow base. Obsessed about the wrong things. Old fashioned. In retreat.

When the Tories lose an election now anywhere in the country, they say it's not their natural territory. Like Scotland is not natural Tory territory. Like Wales is not natural Tory territory. Like the North of England is not natural Tory territory. Like the big cities are not natural Tory territory. Like Harwich, Hastings and Hove aren't natural Tory territory. If I was a Conservative I would be wondering where on earth is our natural territory. We always knew the Tories didn't have a heart. Their problem now is they haven't got a heartland.

No wonder they keep trying to reinvent themselves. From cuddly Conservatives to compassionate Conservatives to caring Conservatives. When are they going to realise it's not the first word that's the problem, it's the second.

But one thing they have succeeded in. As they always do. Right from the beginning of New Labour they set up the eternal false choice of progressive politics. That in Government we either revert to the past; or we stand for nothing. That we are either incompetent or compromised. That if policy is modernised, belief is betrayed. And it plays to our own fears. Yes, New Labour a clever piece of marketing, good at winning elections, but hollow where the heart should be.

New Labour for me was never a departure from belief. It is my belief. The just society in which each person is a full and equal citizen of our land, irrespective of birth, class, wealth, race or sex. Where through solidarity we build a society in which collective strength compensates for individual weakness.

Where privilege cannot just be handed down from generation to generation but success has to be earned on merit. Where self respect and respect for others is the hallmark of our communities and where the fight against poverty and oppression is Britain's mission in the wider world. These are my values and yours. They are the key. But the door they must unlock is the door to the future.

Because values not put to work in the real world are mere words, lying idle, there to console us but not to change lives for the better.

When almost 10 years ago we ditched the old Clause IV, we didn't do it just to ditch nationalisation. The new Clause IV was a fundamental restatement of ideology. "by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone.... a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few."

From now on, we said: we stand for certain values. The values are unchangeable. But the policies are open to change. We made the ends sacrosanct. We put the means up for discussion so that each time could find the right expression for values that are for all time.

In the first phase of our transformation, we took the millstones off our neck. We became a Party of economic competence, strong on defence, concerned on law and order. And we won power. And then in our first term we recovered the credibility to govern. We laid foundations.

But now, is where we show whether we have the mettle not just to be a longer or even a better Labour Government than those that went before us, but whether we usher in a political era where progressive politics is to the 21st century what conservative politics was to the 20th. I do not just want an historic third term. Our aim must be an historic realignment of the political forces shaping our country and the wider world.

Here we are poised, 6½ years in, with a fantastic opportunity, to use or to lose. Yes, this is a testing time. But it is a test not just of belief but of character. And the time is for renewal, not retreat.

A delegate said to me last night. "I know what you want really to say", she said: "you want to say: I know what I'm doing. Just let me get on with it." Then she said: "You do know what you are doing don't you?" It's a fair question. I know the old top down approach won't work any more. I know I can't say "I am the leader, follow me". Not that that was your strong point anyway.

Over the coming months, I want our Party to begin a new discussion with the people of Britain. Across major policy areas the Government will publish a prospectus, discussing the progress we have made and the challenges our country still faces. We should have the confidence to open up the debate, be honest about the challenges, lay out the real choices.

But this must not just be a discussion between us. Because if we want a Government in touch with the Party, we must have a Party in touch with the people.

And so let us make this the biggest policy consultation ever to have taken place in this country. The Ministers from me down, our MPs out in every constituency hosting discussions that engage with the whole community.

So, when we begin our manifesto process, when the policy forum draws our thinking together, I want it to address the big questions, engage with ordinary people's hopes and fears. A progressive, imaginative, vibrant public debate about how we together build a future fair for all.

Not the daily diet of froth; not turning serious politics into soap opera, debasing it, turning it into an endless who knew what, when, as if politicians simply competed on villainy. The British people deserve better from the politicians and with respect, from parts of the media too. But real politics about real people. And in the programme we set out, let our idealism be undimmed, but let us show what experience has taught it.

We're proud of economic stability. 1½ million more jobs since 1997. A hundred years ago we campaigned for a minimum wage. Tomorrow our minimum wage, the one we introduced in the teeth of Tory opposition is going up again - to £4.50. That means that since its introduction this Labour government has increased the earnings of the lowest pay workers, by over £1,500 a year. Whilst the Tories said it would cost millions of jobs, we can say today that Britain's historic minimum wage is here to stay and it comes with the best record on jobs for 30 years.

But we know it's not enough, not in the economy of the future. The fight for a fair future must begin with our number one priority education. At every age, at every stage, education is the surest guarantee of a fair future. At every age and every stage we are breaking down the barriers that hold people back.

At birth: a year's maternity leave, paid paternity leave for the first time and now a new trust fund for every child; their own stake in the future. For toddlers, childcare places, nursery places, child tax credits, and Sure Start giving mothers the confidence and support they need. At primary school the basics, so now our children are in the top three in the world for reading. At secondary school, personalised learning for every child in new specialist schools and City Academies. For teenagers, grants to stay on at school, modern apprenticeships, not a thing of the past but a part of the future. And then throughout adult life, new opportunities through Learn Direct to learn more - a language, new skills - every individual the chance to fulfil their potential.

At every age, at every stage, opening opportunity not for a privileged few but for all.And we need a modern industrial base, doubling investment in science, leading Europe in the biosciences and technology, more high tech spins off from universities than ever before - not just world beating British ideas but world beating products, British profits, British jobs. And yes new manufacturing jobs - high skills, high tech, exactly the kind of jobs we need for the future.

In the economy of the 21st, knowledge, human capital, is the future and fairness demands it is open to all.

But a big challenge faces us. As our children are helped at every stage to learn - we are going further than any country in Europe in turning higher education from a privilege for the few to a right for the many. But how do we finance education through life and also get more children into university education that competes with the best in the world?

To pretend it will all come from the taxpayer is dishonest. It won't and it wouldn't be fair if it did.

And yes the Tories have an alternative to student fees. To cut money going to universities by cutting student numbers. 100,000 fewer students. Is that fair? Who do you think will be the students cut? Their children? And when the universities need more money, do you think they'll raise taxes? No, they'll cut numbers again, when our very economic future depends on us developing people's potential not squandering it.

And the Lib Dems? They say they will spend more and it will all come out of raising the top rate of tax to 50 per cent. Except that extra university funding is not all that's to come from the top rate taxpayer. They have commitments to spend more on forty different items running into billions of pounds.

All this from the top rate taxpayer. We used to have that policy. Remember squeezing the rich 'til the pips squeaked? Except in the end, it wasn't only the rich that were squeezed; and it wasn't the pips that squeaked, it was us.

We can be proud of the new money in our schools and health service, proud that this year, last year and next year spending on health and education is rising faster here than in any other major country. 55,000 more nurses. 25,000 more teachers. 80,000 more classroom assistants. Tremendous.

But in the future how can it be fair when for all the advances we have made, a wealthy pensioner waiting on a consultant's list for her hip operation can go to the same consultant and get it done next week if she is able to pay, but a poor pensioner cannot?

And how is it fair that well off parents, for all our improvements, who can't get their child into a decent secondary school, can choose to buy a good education but poor parents can't?

Choice has always been there for the well off. Excellence has always been at the service of the wealthy. What is unfair is not the right to choose, not the pursuit of excellence but where that choice and that excellence depends on your wealth not your need.

Take the case of an elderly woman in the north west, who looked after her dying husband despite her ill-health. After his death, she agreed to have the serious heart operation she needed. But though she was listed as urgent, she was placed on a year-long waiting list. Once she would have had no choice. Now she did. Because of our policies, she was offered the chance to travel to get her heart operation done much more quickly. She jumped at it. After the operation, she said: "I'd go to the ends of the earth to get my health back. It saved me six months of anxiety. Really I feel it saved my life". Choice for her is not a betrayal of our principles. It is our principles.

And what progress it was in the 1960s when the comprehensive ended the division of children into successes and failures age 11. What a breakthrough in 1948 when the NHS gave people, who used to scrimp and save and fret to pay, care free at the point of use.

But progress in the 21st century demands more, much more. Teaching tailored to each child's ability. A Health Service that brings the benefits of new genetic knowledge to everyone, not a lottery. The patient not at the convenience of the system but the system at the convenience of the patient. And because the world changes we have to change. No longer "one size fits all". Recognising that in the 21st century you can't run a personalised service by remote control.

That's the reason for change. Not to level down but to level up. Not to privatise but to revitalise a public service we all depend on.

I don't want the middle class fighting to get out of the state system. I want them fighting to get into it but on equal terms with working class patients and children. That's what the founders of socialism dreamt of.

And when I read a resolution saying Foundation Hospitals are opposed by an alliance of the BMA and the House of Lords, and yes Tories and Lib Dems too, what are we: a progressive party? If we had listened to that alliance, we would never have had an NHS in the first place.

And of course the criminal justice system with its rules and procedures was a vital step of progress when poor people were without representation unjustly convicted by corners cut. But today in Britain in the 21st century it is not the innocent being convicted. It's too many of the guilty going free. Too many victims of crime and always the poorest who are on the front line.

And its great we've made a start on reform with record numbers of police officers. But I tell you. We will not hit organised crime until we treat them with the ruthlessness they treat us. We won't tackle crime if we bail drug abusers back on the streets without treatment. And we cannot say we live in a just society, if we do not put an end to the anti-social behaviour, the disrespect, the conduct which we wouldn't tolerate from our own children and shouldn't have to tolerate from someone else's.

Responsibility and opportunity. That's why we are investing in our poorest communities. And it's the whole basis of tax credits. If you work, we will help you with the working tax credit. If you are bringing up kids we will support you with child benefit and child tax credit. If you save, we will help you with pension credit that will boost the incomes of half of Britain's pensioners by an average of £400 a year - the biggest advance in combating poverty in old age in a generation but in the future given to those that need it most.

And fairness in a future where millions are on the move. Britain should always be open to refugees. We can be proud of the part immigration has played in this country.

But economic migrants should come in through a proper immigration process.

Changing the law on asylum is the only fair way of helping the genuinely persecuted - and its best defence against racism gaining ground. We have cut asylum applications by a half. But we must go further. We should cut back the ludicrously complicated appeal process, de-rail the gravy train of legal aid, fast-track those from democratic countries, and remove those who fail in their claims without further judicial interference.

And in a world of mass migration, with cheaper air travel, and all the problems of fraud, it makes sense to ask whether now in the early 21st century identity cards are no longer an affront to civil liberties but may be the way of protecting them.

These are some of the challenges. What's fair when we want not a basic but a good standard of life in retirement that is bound to last longer than ever before. What's fair when the users of universal services want to be treated not as grateful welfare recipients but demanding 21st century consumers. What's fair for the mother who a generation ago would have expected to stay at home but now wants the chance to work flexibly. What's fair in a world in which, in a strong economy, rail and tube are used so much more than in 1997, where we desperately need a 21st century transport system and cannot fairly fund it all from the taxpayer. What's fair in a world where the insecurities multiply so fast and the wheels of government turn so slow. Where we have to pick our way to sanity through a cacophony of pressure and hassle which are not the product of any one moment in time but of the times in which we live.

Fairness remade. A Britain without poverty. First class public services. Community renewed. A progressive future within our grasp. The dreams of generations who came to conferences like this becoming real, hopes that were once utopian becoming everyday.

The reason I bang the drum for change is I get so angry that it takes so long, restless at how much there is to do. I want us to go faster, further.

I think of the people I meet. Holly in Southampton. Teenage mum. Now through Sure Start with childcare. Given help to study so she can become a midwife so she can work in the NHS so another mother can benefit. Why does it take so long for us to realise when we invest in people like her, it's not a cost, it's an investment in our future? Or the NHS manager in Newcastle, 30 years working in the NHS, telling me only in the last three has he done anything other than managing decline or the Chief Police Officer telling me after a lifetime in the service, that it was only with the recent legislation on crime he felt Government understood.

And, I stick at it, because I know what's there if we stumble. Not the Government of some hallucination, where no tough decisions have to be taken, the money grows on trees, the Ministers all hold hands and sing Kum-bay-ah, also known as the Lib Dems - what's round the corner is the old Tory days.

It's not that long ago that we've all forgotten, is it? The 3m unemployed. The two recessions. The negative equity. The double figure inflation. The 15% interest rates. The cuts in schools and hospitals. The privatising of the railways.

And when we get to the next election, believe me. We won't be fighting for votes with the hard left. We'll be fighting the hard right. The Tories. And they'll fight us on immigration, on Europe and above all on tax. And they'll say: you put the money in and nothing happened. That's why they run down the NHS. Because they know if we can change our state schools and our NHS for the better, then they're back where they've never been in 100 years 'til now, a Party of opposition and not even a good one at that.

When do Tories succeed? They succeed when people believe politics can't change lives. But we know it can because we see in the faces of the New Dealer and the pupils and the patients and the poorest of our world that politics can make a difference.

I remember when our journey to Government began. Here in this Hall in 1985, with Neil Kinnock, here with us today. And, of course today it seems, absurd, doesn't it? Militant, Arthur, all that nonsense. But I tell you. At the time, I remember up there, where the MPs used to be penned in, getting to my feet in the middle of his speech, the Hall split asunder, my heart pounding, wondering if this was the beginning or the end.

And what I learnt that day was not about the far left. It was about leadership. Get rid of the false choice: principles or no principles. Replace it with the true choice. Forward or back. I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear. The time to trust a politician most is not when they're taking the easy option. Any politician can do the popular things. I know, I used to do a few of them.

I know it's hard for people to keep faith. Some of the people may have a different take on me. But I have the same take on them. I trust their decency. I trust their innate good sense. I know I am the same person I always was, older, tougher, more experienced, but basically the same person believing the same things. I've never led this Party by calculation. Policy you calculate. Leadership comes by instinct. I believe the British people will forgive a government mistakes; will put the media onslaught in more perspective than we think; but what they won't forgive is cowardice in the face of a challenge.

The answer to any of these challenges is not easy.

During the past months on Iraq, I have received letter from parents whose sons have died as soldiers. One believing their son had died in vain and hating me for my decision. Another, a beautiful letter, said they thought Iraq was the right thing to do and though their son was dead, whom they loved dearly, they still thought it was right. And don't believe anyone who tells you when they receive letters like that they don't suffer any doubt. All you can do in a modern world, so confusing with its opportunities and its hazards, is to decide what is the right way and try to walk in it.

It's not being out of touch. After 6 years, more battered without but stronger within. It's the only leadership I can offer. And it's the only type of leadership worth having.

The purpose: to rebuild the public realm, to discover amongst all the modern pressures, the virtues of community, of tolerance, of decency, of respect. To bring to the self interested consumer age, the value of solidarity. Not to cease to want the best for oneself but to wish it for all. To build a country not just proud of their own achievements, but proud of what we can do together. Proud not just of how they get and spend but what we in friendship with each other can do for each other.

This is our challenge.

To stride forward where we have always previously stumbled. To renew in government. Steadfast in our values. Radical in our methods. Open in our politics. If we faint in the day of adversity, our strength is small. And ours isn't. We have the strength, the maturity, now the experience to do it.

So let it be done.

He said the Scotsman was standing by its story that Mrs Blair had seen the content of papers faxed to her office in Downing Street and claimed Carole Caplin was persuaded by Alastair Campbell to deny the allegation in her statement yesterday.

The controversy was "not Watergate", he said, but added: "There is, I must say, a threatening atmosphere around London and Westminster at the moment.

"I've heard people saying, 'Don't speak to me on a mobile phone'. One chap said to me last night, 'Don't speak to me, I'm going to throw my mobile phone in the water'.

"There is a lot of dirty propaganda going around. Downing Street has been demanding of people that they issue written statements saying they did not speak to the Scotsman," Mr Neil told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

He said: "Yesterday morning an apoplectic Alastair Campbell got up, saw the Scotsman story, spoke to his partner Fiona Millar [who is Mrs Blair's spokeswoman], told her, to 'get on to the phone to Carole Caplin right away to say you've got to make a statement about this. You've got to deny this, you've got to do something to help Cherie after everything she's done to help you, and you've got to do it'".

"There is no question that that statement made by Miss Caplin yesterday, which of course flies in the face of what we now know from the Sun tapes this morning as what Mr Foster himself was saying, was prompted by 10 Downing Street."

The Sun today reveals that Mr Foster, jailed three times for slimming frauds, hopes to cash in on the affair.

In recorded phone calls between Mr Foster and his mother, who lives outside Dublin, he says: "I'll do a story but only for money. I'm wanting to get paid. I'm going to hold out for money for another 24 hours. I'm just going to get back strong now.

"I've lost. I've lawyers' fees. I've got PR nightmares. I'm an absolute fucking pariah. I've suffered losses and I've suffered damages. I may as well get something out of this. I'm fucked, my reputation is fucked."

In the taped conversations Mr Foster also denies his girlfriend Ms Caplin's vehement denials yesterday that Mrs Blair read the legal documents relating to his immigration case.

Asked by his mother whether it was true that Mrs Blair never read the papers, he says: "No, of course not. She read them. I think Carole is stupid. She was trying to protect a friend and it was a knee-jerk reaction."

The Sun also reports that Mr Foster appeared to be trying to sell the story to several media outlets including the Sunday Times and Granada TV's Tonight programme with Trevor McDonald.

According to the paper, the Sunday Times told Mr Foster they were ethically obliged to give money to charity rather than a known criminal and his mother.

It is not clear how the Sun got hold of tapes of Mr Foster's phone calls. Intriguingly, it reports one call at 11.30am yesterday with his mother. In what appears to be a discussion about the Sunday Times' alleged response to payments, his mother says: "Oh, fuck that. What are you going to gain by it - nothing?"

The Guardian        p. 13        13 January 2005

Mark Trail

Jack Elrod        Created by Ed Dodd in 1946        29 March 2005

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/mtrail/about.htm

Spiderman        Stan Lee        26 March 2005    27.3.2005

http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/spidermn/about.htm

contraste rhétorique / ironique

entre

présent simple

et

'I hope you're not thinking of driving, sir.'