What Does Cameron Have to Do, Today?

David Cameron will give his main address to the party conference just after 2 o’clock, this afternoon. What should he be aiming for? For me it is clear that there is one remaining task.

It has been a clear fact that the conference audience has been completely united this week. The ordinary party members, perhaps because they are focussed on a possible general election within a month, have all had two main questions they wanted answered this week.

The first requirement was for a clutch of policies that can be used by activists on the doorstep. This has been delivered. We can talk about new ideas for pensions, inheritance tax, charges on non-domicled residents and others. Excellent.

The second need is the one that needs to be met by Cameron, today. That need is for a fresh articulation of what the Conservative Party stands for. It means we need a form of words that can be repeated by activists across the country. It requires a series of ideas that can be easily communicated that explain the values that were used to choose those policies that have been adopted from among all the ideas generated by the review groups.

This week the new policies and the coherence among ordinary members has given the party a strong platform on which to build and much of it will be of comfort to One Nation Conservatives. I am confident that Cameron will deliver the rest, today, when the stakes are high.