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| David Cameron, at Conservatives’ Conference, Puts His Focus on Political Center | |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| MANCHESTER, England — Sensing a chance to occupy the political center ground in his final term in office, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain on Wednesday pledged to battle discrimination, fight for equality, help the poor find housing and make an “all-out assault on poverty.” | |
| Closing the Conservatives’ first party convention since their election victory in May, Mr. Cameron returned to ideas he championed when he first won the leadership of his party in 2005, emphasizing a “modern, compassionate” conservatism that offered help to the destitute and opportunity to those who want to better themselves. | |
| He wants his period in power to be remembered as a “defining decade for our country,” a “turnaround decade,” he said, “when people no longer felt the current going against them, but working with them.” | He wants his period in power to be remembered as a “defining decade for our country,” a “turnaround decade,” he said, “when people no longer felt the current going against them, but working with them.” |
| Mr. Cameron appears to have identified the political center as his for the taking, after an election victory in which the centrist Liberal Democrats, who had been in coalition with the Conservatives, slumped to just eight seats in Parliament, and the opposition Labour Party, which lost Scotland and did poorly in England, has now swung to the left. | |
| At the same time, Mr. Cameron is committed, along with his close ally George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, to shrinking the size of the state and continuing austerity measures to cut deeply into government spending, including social welfare programs, to reduce Britain’s large deficit. | At the same time, Mr. Cameron is committed, along with his close ally George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, to shrinking the size of the state and continuing austerity measures to cut deeply into government spending, including social welfare programs, to reduce Britain’s large deficit. |
| On security matters, Mr. Cameron took a more traditional Conservative line, talking of further moves to tackle Islamic extremism abroad in the shape of Islamic State and at home, targeting Muslim religious schools that, in his view, may be preaching intolerance. And he made a vicious attack on the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, saying, “We cannot let that man inflict his security-threatening, terrorist sympathizing, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love.” | On security matters, Mr. Cameron took a more traditional Conservative line, talking of further moves to tackle Islamic extremism abroad in the shape of Islamic State and at home, targeting Muslim religious schools that, in his view, may be preaching intolerance. And he made a vicious attack on the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, saying, “We cannot let that man inflict his security-threatening, terrorist sympathizing, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love.” |
| With Mr. Cameron having said that he will step down as prime minister before the 2020 elections, even before the Conservatives’ resounding victory in May, the meeting in Manchester had been dominated by the attention-grabbing speeches of colleagues already maneuvering for his job. | With Mr. Cameron having said that he will step down as prime minister before the 2020 elections, even before the Conservatives’ resounding victory in May, the meeting in Manchester had been dominated by the attention-grabbing speeches of colleagues already maneuvering for his job. |
| But on Wednesday Mr. Cameron sought to push that to one side, making it plain that he was not without his own political goals and was in no hurry to leave office, telling internal rivals that he was “starting the second half of my time in this job.” | But on Wednesday Mr. Cameron sought to push that to one side, making it plain that he was not without his own political goals and was in no hurry to leave office, telling internal rivals that he was “starting the second half of my time in this job.” |
| If Wednesday belonged to Mr. Cameron, Monday and Tuesday were auditions. On Monday, Mr. Osborne, a Cameron favorite, also sought to present the Conservatives as the party of the center, gleefully appropriating policies long associated with the Labour Party. Mr. Osborne proposed building up Britain with new infrastructure designed to spread wealth to the north of the country. Even if he was not sure that his idea of a “northern powerhouse” would succeed, he said, it would be worth the effort. | If Wednesday belonged to Mr. Cameron, Monday and Tuesday were auditions. On Monday, Mr. Osborne, a Cameron favorite, also sought to present the Conservatives as the party of the center, gleefully appropriating policies long associated with the Labour Party. Mr. Osborne proposed building up Britain with new infrastructure designed to spread wealth to the north of the country. Even if he was not sure that his idea of a “northern powerhouse” would succeed, he said, it would be worth the effort. |
| On Tuesday, the home secretary, Theresa May, made a pitch for the right of the party, with harsh language about uncontrolled immigration and internal security. “When immigration is too high, when the pace of change is too fast, it’s impossible to build a cohesive society,” she said. She argued that immigration had little positive impact on the British economy, a position quickly disputed by some business people and academics. | On Tuesday, the home secretary, Theresa May, made a pitch for the right of the party, with harsh language about uncontrolled immigration and internal security. “When immigration is too high, when the pace of change is too fast, it’s impossible to build a cohesive society,” she said. She argued that immigration had little positive impact on the British economy, a position quickly disputed by some business people and academics. |
| But Ms. May’s main problem is that after five years in the job, she and Mr. Cameron have not reduced net immigration, in part because they cannot control other European Union citizens who are attracted to Britain for employment and are legally entitled to move there. | But Ms. May’s main problem is that after five years in the job, she and Mr. Cameron have not reduced net immigration, in part because they cannot control other European Union citizens who are attracted to Britain for employment and are legally entitled to move there. |
| Boris Johnson, the charismatic lawmaker and departing mayor of London, joined the beauty pageant with an appeal to “one nation,” or inclusive, conservatism in a speech that lavishly praised Mr. Cameron while also quietly criticizing him and Mr. Osborne for cutting tax credits to workers on low incomes. Mr. Johnson also kept open the possibility that he could support a British exit from the European Union in a referendum that Mr. Cameron has promised by the end of 2017. | Boris Johnson, the charismatic lawmaker and departing mayor of London, joined the beauty pageant with an appeal to “one nation,” or inclusive, conservatism in a speech that lavishly praised Mr. Cameron while also quietly criticizing him and Mr. Osborne for cutting tax credits to workers on low incomes. Mr. Johnson also kept open the possibility that he could support a British exit from the European Union in a referendum that Mr. Cameron has promised by the end of 2017. |
| His speech was a reminder that despite their parliamentary majority, the Conservatives face their own internal strains, notably on issues including the European Union, immigration, welfare and even whether to build a third runway at the overcrowded Heathrow Airport (which Mr. Johnson loudly opposes). | His speech was a reminder that despite their parliamentary majority, the Conservatives face their own internal strains, notably on issues including the European Union, immigration, welfare and even whether to build a third runway at the overcrowded Heathrow Airport (which Mr. Johnson loudly opposes). |
| Mr. Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum on British membership in the European Union has heightened passions on a subject that has been divisive for Conservatives since 1990, when the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was ejected by her own party, partly because of her resistance to European integration. | Mr. Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum on British membership in the European Union has heightened passions on a subject that has been divisive for Conservatives since 1990, when the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was ejected by her own party, partly because of her resistance to European integration. |
| Europe could also be a problem for Mr. Osborne, who has a leading role in renegotiating Britain’s terms of membership in the European Union. Should those talks fail, or voters reject membership in the referendum, his prospects would take a battering. | Europe could also be a problem for Mr. Osborne, who has a leading role in renegotiating Britain’s terms of membership in the European Union. Should those talks fail, or voters reject membership in the referendum, his prospects would take a battering. |
| Not so for Mr. Johnson, who once reported from Brussels for The Daily Telegraph as a young and euroskeptic journalist, and who many say would benefit from a no vote. He took a few swipes at the bloc on Tuesday, while arguing that the health of British democracy depended on “getting the right deal now from our European Union partners, as I know David Cameron can.” | Not so for Mr. Johnson, who once reported from Brussels for The Daily Telegraph as a young and euroskeptic journalist, and who many say would benefit from a no vote. He took a few swipes at the bloc on Tuesday, while arguing that the health of British democracy depended on “getting the right deal now from our European Union partners, as I know David Cameron can.” |
| He seemed to be taking aim at Mr. Osborne’s plans to restrict tax credits, which subsidize low earners, changes that are likely to hurt some families on low incomes. | He seemed to be taking aim at Mr. Osborne’s plans to restrict tax credits, which subsidize low earners, changes that are likely to hurt some families on low incomes. |
| “We must ensure that as we reform welfare and we cut taxes that we protect the hardest working and lowest paid: shop workers, cleaners, the people who get up in the small hours or work through the night,” Mr. Johnson said. | “We must ensure that as we reform welfare and we cut taxes that we protect the hardest working and lowest paid: shop workers, cleaners, the people who get up in the small hours or work through the night,” Mr. Johnson said. |
| Among the contenders to succeed Mr. Cameron, Mr. Osborne is seen as the man to beat, because his stewardship of the economy since 2010 is credited by many with bringing the Conservatives election victory, but he has long struggled to connect with the public. | Among the contenders to succeed Mr. Cameron, Mr. Osborne is seen as the man to beat, because his stewardship of the economy since 2010 is credited by many with bringing the Conservatives election victory, but he has long struggled to connect with the public. |
| “Something about his black curls and pale face,” Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, wrote of Mr. Osborne in 2008, “make him look like a powdered French aristocrat in 1790 staring affrighted from the window of his carriage as the sans-culottes start trying to turn it over.” More recently, others have likened his new haircut to that of Julius Caesar. | “Something about his black curls and pale face,” Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, wrote of Mr. Osborne in 2008, “make him look like a powdered French aristocrat in 1790 staring affrighted from the window of his carriage as the sans-culottes start trying to turn it over.” More recently, others have likened his new haircut to that of Julius Caesar. |
| Mr. Osborne has made a concerted effort to humanize his image, and, in a preconference interview in The Mail on Sunday, he discussed how he wooed his wife, how he went on a diet for fear of becoming “fat and flabby,” and his fondness for the rap group N.W.A. | Mr. Osborne has made a concerted effort to humanize his image, and, in a preconference interview in The Mail on Sunday, he discussed how he wooed his wife, how he went on a diet for fear of becoming “fat and flabby,” and his fondness for the rap group N.W.A. |