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In keynote address to Conservative conference, prime minister sets out upbeat vision following week of sombre speeches by cabinet colleagues David Cameron invoked the spirit of the British bulldog and the days of empire as he pledged to provide the leadership to take Britain to better days. In an attempt to imitate the optimistic vision of Ronald Reagan’s Morning in America campaign , the prime minister said he would fight a climate of “sogginess” which says Britain faces certain decline. “Britain never had the biggest population, the largest land mass, the richest resources – but we had the spirit,” the prime minister said in his keynote speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester. Referring to the British bulldog, Cameron added: “Remember, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Overcoming challenge, confounding the sceptics, reinventing ourselves, this is what we do. It’s called leadership.” Tory strategists decided the prime minister would use his speech to set out an upbeat and optimistic vision after a week of sombre speeches by ministers and notably by the chancellor, George Osborne. Cameron echoed Osborne when he said Britain faced a long struggle to revive the economy. “People want to know why the good times are so long coming,” he said. “The answer is straightforward, but uncomfortable. This was no normal recession – we’re in a debt crisis. It was caused by too much borrowing by individuals, businesses, banks and, most of all, governments.” As Downing Street confirmed earlier on Wednesday, the prime minister amended this sober section of his speech to tone down an apparent instruction to people to follow the example of the government and to pay off their credit cards. Instead, he said: “The only way out of a debt crisis is to deal with your debts. That’s why households are paying down their credit card and store card bills.” Cameron challenged Labour, which accuses the government of imposing spending cuts too quickly and too soon, by putting his deficit reduction plans within the tradition of moderate “one nation Conservatism” embodied by his political hero, Harold Macmillan. “This is a one-nation deficit reduction plan from a one-nation party,” he said. Having established the economic challenge facing Britain, the prime minister started to outline his upbeat vision as he pledged to reject pessimism and promote “can-do optimism”. The Tories illustrated this approach by inviting young people who have taken part in the National Citizens’ Service initiative to address the conference. But he said there was a downbeat mood and he would fight it. “Frankly, there’s too much ‘can’t do’ sogginess around,” he told delegates. “We need to be a sharp, focused, can-do country. But as we go for growth, the last thing I want is to pump the old economy back up, with a banking sector out of control, manufacturing squeezed, and prosperity confined to a few parts of the country and a select few industries. “Our plan is to build something new and to build something better. We can do it.” The prime minister cited health and safety rules as an example of how Britain was being held back. “This isn’t how a great nation was built,” he said. “Britannia didn’t rule the waves with armbands on.” Picking up on his theme of the empire, he said he would try to revive the spirit that allowed Britain to find a new role after the collapse of its empire. “They said when we lost an empire that we couldn’t find a role. But we found a role, took on communism and helped bring down the Berlin Wall,” he said. “They called our economy the sick man of Europe. But we came back and turned this country into a beacon of enterprise.” In his concluding remarks, Cameron said: “Let’s turn this time of challenge into a time of opportunity. Not sitting around watching things happen and wondering why, but standing up, making things happen and asking: ‘Why not?’. “We have the people, we have the ideas, and now we have a government that’s freeing those people, backing those ideas. So let’s see an optimistic future. Let’s show the world some fight. Let’s pull together, work together. And together lead Britain to better days.” Cameron’s speech outlined how key government reforms would help: • In education, there will be an emphasis on “core and vital subjects”, he said as he hailed the new free schools established by the education secretary, Michael Gove. “Change really is under way,” he added. “For the first time in a long time, the numbers studying those core and vital subjects history, geography, languages are going up. “Pupils’ exams will be marked on their punctuation and grammar. And teachers are going to be able to search pupils’ bags for anything banned in school – mobile phones, alcohol, weapons, anything. It’s a long, hard road back to rigour, but we’re well and truly on our way.” • On welfare reform, Cameron promised to return sense to the labour market and get people back to work, with a focus on people on incapacity benefit. “Under Labour, they got something for nothing,” he said. “With us, they’ll only get something if they give something. If they are prepared to work, we’re going to help them, and I mean really help them. “If you’ve been out of work and on benefits for five years, a quick session down the jobcentre and a new CV just isn’t going to cut it. You need to get your self-esteem and confidence back. You need training and skills, intensive personal support.” • On planning, the government would listen to people’s concerns about the changes, he said, adding that the government would do nothing to harm the countryside. But he said that it was important to ease the planning process, adding: “To those who just oppose everything we’re doing, my message is this: take your arguments down to the job centre. We’ve got to get Britain back to work.” Conservative conference 2011 David Cameron Conservative conference Conservatives Economic policy Recession Economics Communities Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk