Cameron: a right-wing speech in fair-trade cotton clothing

Cameron has without a doubt clicked on to what the media like to feed on. His assertion that he would be speaking without a script was displayed shamelessly across the BBC news ticker, and very few people can deny that this was a daring approach that could have gone horribly wrong: if he hadn’t already learnt his speech of course.

Learning a speech gives you a freedom. Instead of worrying about what to say, how to say it without slipping on the semantic tight-rope, and making sure the content has a notable impact is certainly a huge pressure on any politician. If this speech has already been written, thought through, and practised, then the only thing left on the mind of a party leader is performance; and that, my friends, is without a doubt the easiest and most enjoyable part.

A few points, Mr Cameron:

You said that the tax system should reward couples that stay together and recognise marriage. I know of many single mothers who have stomped on any stereotype that they are simply benefit-grabbing chavs. They have shown through love for their child(ren) that nothing matters more than the careful upbringing and top-class education of their kids.

You said in your speech that the tax system gives an incentive for couples to split up. You suggest that married couples, who often are lucky to be in such a situation, get a raw deal for being so. Let me tell you this Mr Cameron: the only thing worse than a system that rewards people for splitting up is a system that takes one of our most valued commitment-based institutions and suggests people should use it as a proxy to retrieve more state funding. Your idea does nothing more than devalue the system of marriage, allowing people to wrongly take benefits simply by getting married under paper. In your own words: “God, we have got to be better than that.”

Your assertion to Gordon Brown that he is simply appealing through a seemingly transparent mask to the “4% of voters” in marginal constituencies shows the depths of your hypocrisy. Just over two years ago you authored the most stinging despicable right-wing manifesto seen this century, yet now you expect us to believe that you’re leading a party of “liberal conservatives”?

The day after polling day, Cameron will realise that people are sick of hearing the same old stories, and that they are sick of seeing the same old Tories.