12/10/2013 00:00
TW
0

by RAY FLEMING
THE conclusion of Britain's party conference season yesterday - and particularly the speeches this week of George Osborne and David Cameron - brought into focus what an unpredictable business party politics remains. If, two years ago, Mr Osborne had not floated his proposal to raise the threshhold for the Inheritance Tax, Gordon Brown might not have decided against holding the elections that would almost certainly have given him four or more years in office. If, four years ago, David Cameron had not delivered an impressive scriptless speech in the leadership contest to defeat the rambling address made by the favourite, David Davis would probably have been on the podium yesterday setting out his stall for government.

This time, though, Mr Cameron was not going to give any hostages to fortune (especially after the General Dannatt debacle) by straying far from the text of a speech which had been so carefully prepared in advance that the morning media were able to quote key passages from it. Rather like Winston Churchill who urged his people in the darkest days of WWII, “Westward look, the land is bright”, Mr Cameron assured his followers that “the view from the summit will be worth the steep climb to get there.” The most serious flaw in the Conservatives' otherwise well-managed conference was the inability of either David Cameron or William Hague to convince on foreign policy and relations with Europe. The Conservatives remain dangerously split on Britain's role in the European Union.