David cameron

Wednesday

Isabel Hardman

Labour set the test for this Conservative conference – but Cameron passed

From our UK edition

David Cameron is an essay crisis Prime Minister. He works best when his back is against the wall. And this conference he had a last-minute test set for him which he had to step up to. That test was set by the Labour party last week, with its focus on the cost of living, and Cameron passed it. His speech was written with clever flourishes and turns of phrase - 'the land of despair was Labour, but the land of hope is Tory', 'Abu Qatada had his very own May Day this year' and 'I've got a gesture of my own for Ed Balls' - but it was also dominated by the Labour party. There were 25 references to Labour in the text of the speech.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron skips conference announcements to boast about Tory record

From our UK edition

Normally when a Prime Minister gives a speech to a party conference, the 'line' for the next day's newspapers is pretty clear. A policy announcement means it's easy to write the introduction to the story, which is supposed to sum up what happened in under 25 words. But David Cameron's speech today could only really be summed up as 'Today the Prime Minister gave a speech on all the things he's done and asked for time to finish the job'. His speech had no policy announcements in it, other than a hint that under-25s could lose their benefits unless they were 'earning or learning'. This is an impressive bet by the Conservatives: that the speech will still get written up by the press with a list of achievements in it rather than trying to tempt voters with a new policy.

Ed West

Opponents of marriage tax breaks need to ‘check their privilege’

From our UK edition

What with the flap about Ed Miliband’s dad, the legion of the outraged have forgotten what they were planning to get angry about this week – the marriage tax break, which is social engineering and a blatant Tory attempt to punish single mothers in favour of the patriarchy. As a paid-up member of the patriarchy it always sounds more fun coming from people complaining about it than it actually is. Marriage, for men, is a form of domestication and many would rather spend their 30s and 40s playing computer games, if possible with a live-in girlfriend to whom they have made no commitments. Many end up getting married partly because their peers do, and the social pressure to conform. Why do we do it?

Isabel Hardman

What will Cameron say about the Lib Dems?

From our UK edition

The Tories are naturally the most worked up about Ukip - while trying to publicly pretend that it doesn't exist, of course - but when David Cameron gives his speech to conference shortly, what will he say about the Lib Dems? He faces two yellow challenges: the first is to try to stop the Lib Dems claiming credit as the party of the moral high ground without which the Tories would be a rabidly unfair party unconcerned with the needs of the vulnerable. The second is giving the impression that while the Coalition may conduct itself with greater serenity than anyone could have imagined when it formed in 2010, he doesn't relish the thought of another partnership after 2015.

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron: Don’t be seduced by Labour’s quick fixes, let us finish the job

From our UK edition

One of the striking things about the extracts of David Cameron's speech that have been briefed so far is that the Conservative Prime Minister is having to respond to a number of key themes of Ed Miliband's conference last week. Labour should be pleased that it has set the agenda for this conference season, not just spooking ministers on the cost of living, but also forcing a defence of business and profit from the Prime Minister. Ed Miliband's row with the Mail has also overshadowed the conference. The Prime Minister will say: 'We know that profit, wealth creation, tax cuts, enterprise… these are not dirty, elitist words - they're not the problem. They really are the solution because it's not government that creates jobs, it's businesses.

Tuesday

Melanie McDonagh

Women think that David Cameron is out of touch for good reason

From our UK edition

Well, the great breadmaking debate hots up. David Cameron neatly sidestepped the heffalump trap that Nick Ferrari put in his path in an interview on LBC when he asked him the price of a Value Loaf in Tesco or Sainsbury. As you and I know, dear reader, Mr Cameron would no more eat that stuff than his own fingernails, and I for one applaud his good sense. If you can afford not to, don’t. But his elegant solution to the problem of not knowing that loaf-shaped carbohydrate costs 47p (he thought bread costs ‘north of a pound’, which is true of the kind he eats, only double that) was to say that he makes his own bread, from flour milled in the Cotswolds, a process which takes all of 30 seconds in a breadmaker as a way of getting his children to eat granary loafs.

Fraser Nelson

Cameron’s class war: only snobs dislike my Help to Buy

From our UK edition

David Cameron has just been interviewed by Sarah Montague on Radio Four, who rather put him through his paces. She teased out an interesting position he is adopting to the growing concern about his Help to Buy mortgage subsidies. He defends himself by saying he will liberate those 'trapped' in rented accommodation and casts his critics as cold-hearted rich kids.

Monday

Steerpike

Go on Bridget, now that Mark Darcy’s dead — marry Daniel Cleaver! #taxbreak

From our UK edition

Our world has been rocked by revelations that Bridget Jones — described as 'the world's most famous literary singleton' — is now a widow. Her ex-husband Mark Darcy has left her with two children and a life lived through social media. Bridget is now obsessed with a toyboy called Roxter, a 29-year-old she met on Twitter. Pull yourself together, Bridget! The solution is obvious to Mr Steerpike (oh all right! Lady Steerpike was my inspiration). You must get hitched to your long-time, on-again-off-again love interest, the devilishly endearing Daniel Cleaver. Here's why: 1). If Hugh Grant reprises the movie character, at least it will keep him occupied. #hackedoff 2). Getting married again might qualify you for David Cameron's new tax break.

Rod Liddle

Marriage is a very serious business

From our UK edition

I’m not sure where I stand on the tax-breaks for married couples, announced with great hoo-ha by the government and derided by the opposition. On the one hand, as a god-fearing authoritarian bigot, I approve of people who choose to live as Jesus Christ himself wished us to. On the other hand, I do not think that marriage per se is the answer to the social problems occasioned by broken families (which are almost infinite). The problem is people having children too quickly, when they are either married or otherwise, and without thinking through the consequences. Or perhaps being too stupid to think through the consequences.

Ed West

Why is ‘feminism’ such a dirty word?

From our UK edition

A few years back I did one of those online debates on the Times website, the subject being why feminism had fallen out of favour. Within about 60 seconds four people had used the phrase ‘gender is a social construct’ and, well, I sort of switched off at that point. It’s strange that the F-word is now so unpopular that even David Cameron, a man with a desperately keen ear for metro-liberal opinion, refused to identify as such last week. When asked by Red magazine, he said: ‘I don’t know what I’d call myself... it’s up to others to attach labels. But I believe men and women should be treated equally.

Sunday

Steerpike

Dave helps one hard working person

From our UK edition

Oh the joys of being a lobbyist at Tory conference. Holding court in the bar of the Midland Hotel, my spies tell me that the doyen of the old school spinmeisters, Peter Bingle, was caught off guard by a visitor paying homage at his table. 'Hello Peter, how's business?' asked the eager conference goer. 'Very well thank you, Prime Minister', came the reply. 'My fees have just doubled,' the jolly gent told me later in the evening. One hardworking person is happy.

Isabel Hardman

How strong can the Tory tax attack be?

From our UK edition

One of the key dividing lines in 2015 will be over what sort of action each of the parties proposes to take over filling the financial black hole. The choice is between tax rises and spending cuts, and the Tories were first out of the blocks to make clear that they want to focus on spending cuts, specifically shaving more money from the welfare bill, as part of their election offer. James first revealed this in his Mail on Sunday column in June, and then George Osborne ruled out tax rises at a press gallery lunch the following month. At the time, he said: 'I think this can be delivered through spending and savings both in welfare and in departments, and there is no need for tax rises to contribute to that fiscal consolidation.

James Forsyth

Look who’s back: Steve Hilton returns to help with Cameron’s conference speech

From our UK edition

When Steve Hilton left Downing Street he regarded his friend David Cameron’s premiership as a disappointment. As Matt d’Ancona reports, Hilton regarded Cameron as ‘reactive not transformative’. When he didn’t return at the end of his sabbatical, it was thought that was that. But for the last few days, Hilton has been back. When Cameron asked him to come and help on his conference speech, their old friendship kicked in and Hilton flew back from California. He was one of five people who hunkered down with Cameron at Chequers from Tuesday to Wednesday evening to work out how the Tory leader should respond to Miliband.

Fraser Nelson

Tax cuts R us! Ten points from David Cameron’s Marr interview

From our UK edition

Here’s what jumped out at me from David Cameron’s interview with Andrew Marr in Manchester this morning: Tax cuts: the Tory weapon 'As this economy has started to recover, it’s very difficult for people to make ends meet. Their wages are relatively fixed, and the prices are going up. That’s why cutting people’s taxes is so important. That’s why lifting people out of the first £10,000 of income tax is so vital. That’s why freezing the council tax matters.' So Cameron acknowledges Miliband's premise, that the cost of living is an issue, then presents tax cuts as the solution. Precisely the right strategy, as tax cuts are bankable and Miliband's claim to freeze energy bills is less so.

James Forsyth

Could Britain quitting the ECHR persuade the Tories to stay in the EU?

From our UK edition

David Cameron’s willingness to talk about Britain pulling out of the European Court of Human Rights while refusing to give details of what he wants back in an EU renegotiation is telling. All Cameron would say on Marr this morning about the EU renegotiation, is that he wants Britain to be exempted from ‘ever closer union’—a largely linguistic ask that, I suspect, the rest of the EU will be prepared to agree to. By contrast, he was prepared to go into far more detail about how he might change Britain’s relationship with the Strasbourg Court.

Saturday

James Forsyth

We haven’t heard the last of the mansion tax

From our UK edition

In Manchester this week, there’ll be much talk from the Tories about how they are gunning for a majority. But in private, many senior Tories will admit that being the largest party in another hung parliament is a more realistic aim. As Matthew d’Ancona reveals in the Telegraph this morning, there has been talk—albeit brief-- between the principals about a second coalition. Matt also reminds us how, if it had not been for Cameron’s intervention, a mansion tax would have been imposed by the coalition. I suspect that if there is to be another coalition, the Liberal Democrats would insist on some kind of mansion tax. It has come for them a proxy for wider questions about how much influence they would wield inside a second Tory-Lib Dem coalition.

Friday

Isabel Hardman

David Cameron unveils £1,000 marriage tax allowance

From our UK edition

That the Conservatives were going to announce a marriage tax allowance at their party conference had to be one of the worst kept secrets in Westminster since the date of the last general election. So they've managed to go one better than the £750 allowance proposed by their 2010 manifesto with David Cameron announcing in the Daily Mail tomorrow that people will be able to transfer £1,000 of their personal tax allowance to their spouse or civil partner.

Alex Massie

David Cameron ducks a debate with Alex Salmond. This makes sense but is still depressing.

From our UK edition

A novice poker player quickly learns - or had better quickly learn - that strength often connotes weakness and weakness is a reliable indicator of strength. But as the stakes increase and the level of play becomes more sophisticated such elementary tells can be misleading. They are false friends in the land of the double and triple bluff. So a novice poker player might conclude that David Cameron's refusal to debate against Alex Salmond is a sign of weakness. A slightly more experienced player would think this weakness too obvious to be true and conclude that Cameron is holding better cards than he is indicating. And it is true: with the polls indicating a No vote Cameron has little need to risk a debate the outcome of which must be uncertain.

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Ed Miliband: You Are The Quiet Bat People And I Am On Your Side

From our UK edition

Ronald Reagan once quipped that  "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help." As was so often the case the Great Communicator was only half-joking. He knew government had important jobs to do, jobs only government could do. What was needed was a rebalancing. Government had become too invasive. It needed pruning. (Never mind that not much pruning took place; the rhetoric and the positioning was what mattered.) I didn't watch Ed Miliband's speech to the Labour party conference this afternoon but no-one, I think, would say he possesses a Reaganesque delivery.