Michael Lambert: Lies, Lies and More Lies from Sunak

Oct 7, 2023 | The Conservative Party Conference in Manchester this week was a disgrace. Minister after minister lied to a half-empty hall. Lying has become normal for the Tories.

Suella Braverman spread her vile, racist dogma whilst others warned of non-existent, entirely fictional Labour policies such as taxing meat and controlling access to shops.

But Sunak was the worst and most dishonest speaker. He talked of the Conservative party being the party of small business, of how Brexit had made businesses more competitive when the opposite is the truth. He claimed falsely yet again that reducing inflation was a tax cut. He claimed the Tories are a party concerned to protect the environment whilst water companies continue to tip sewage into our now filthy rivers and the sea. He lied by thanking Kemi Badenoch for sweeping away Brussels 'red tape' and saving British businesses £1 billion per year. He confirmed the cancellation of HS2 beyond Manchester, claiming that the government would spend the £36 billion saved on hundreds of other new projects.


British politics was ruined the day they made politics a career. Once they did that, people without any work experience went straight into politics to make a name for themselves, and to make money. Before that, the people who went into politics were people who had been a success in life and who wanted to go into politics "to give something back". This is why we can observe all the greed in the corridors of power today. It is also why we rarely witness resignations when MPs have disgraced themselves. Our parliamentary system is rotten to the core. – © Mark Alexander

The Guardian View on Liz Truss’s Speech: Stoking Conflict in Place of Argument

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The prime minister’s mask has slipped. Her naked case for greed and selfishness will make enemies inside as well as outside her party

Political speeches can influence voters or MPs; they can honour ideals and celebrate membership of a party. Liz Truss chose none of these in her address to activists at the Conservative party’s annual conference. She preferred instead to defend her unpopular policies that promote growth at any cost, and blame a decade of anaemic economic expansion on those who – rightly – counsel caution about the trade-offs involved. The prime minister’s speech shows the extent to which she sees politics as civil war, where everything boils down to loyalty. The new “enemies of enterprise” is just a Trussian rebranding of the toxic “enemies of the people” rhetoric.

Ms Truss wanted to battle opponents outside the Tory party, not those within it. She has been on the losing side of that fight all week. Instead she chose to define her enemies in the country and seek conflict with them. But Britain’s poor economic performance is not down to an “nti-growth coalition” of podcasters, trade unions and thinktanks. Surely if one wants to view success through the lens of growth then those guilty of failing to produce it were sitting in front of the prime minister in the conference hall. With video » | Editorial | Wednesday, October 5, 2022

This woman is a disaster! – © Mark Alexander

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss Speaks at the Conservative Party's Conference

If you can muster up the fortitude, listen to this vacuous speech, replete with platitudes we have heard a million times before. Try not to fall asleep! – © Mark Alexander

Theresa May: Conservative Party Conference 2016 | Full Speech

May: UK to Trigger Article 50 by End of March | DW News

Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain "will make a success of Brexit" at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham, promising to protect the country's global interests and promote free trade.

David Cameron Speech at Conservative Party Conference

Prime Minister David Cameron speaks live at the Conservative Party Conference. Watch the full speech here.

Theresa May’s Immigration Speech

Theresa May speaking at the Conservative Party Conference

#TakeBackMCR March against "Everything Tories Stand For"

Tens of thousands marched on the Tory Conference in Manchester against "pretty much everything the Tories stand for" from austerity to Syria bombings to the Trade Union Bill.

Three Videos from David Cameron's Speech at the Conservative Party Conference

Demonstranten verlangen Camerons Rücktritt

TAGES ANZEIGER: Zehntausende Briten protestierten in Manchester gegen die britische Sparpolitik. Und Premierminister Cameron musste sich bei zwei Parlamentarierinnen für abschätzige Bemerkungen entschuldigen.

Die britischen Konservativen müssen eineinhalb Jahre nach der Regierungsübernahme ihre Sparpolitik gegen massive Kritik verteidigen. Zum Auftakt des Parteitags am Sonntag in Manchester protestierten 30'000 Menschen gegen das milliardenschwere Sparpaket der Regierungskoalition aus Konservativen und Liberaldemokraten.

Unter den Demonstranten waren zahlreiche Beschäftigte des öffentlichen Dienstes, etwa Beamte, Lehrer und Feuerwehrleute, aber auch Angestellte aus dem Privatsektor. Zu dem Protestmarsch hatte der Dachverband der Gewerkschaften (Trades Union Congress, TUC) aufgerufen.

«Cameron muss weg»

«Konservative, raus!» skandierten die Demonstranten, während sie am Veranstaltungsort des Parteitags vorbeizogen. Auf Transparenten standen Sprüche wie «Manchester, eine Stadt vereint gegen Einschnitte» und «Er muss weg», womit Cameron gemeint war.

Aussenminister William Hague schwor die Delegierten zum Auftakt der viertägigen Konferenz erneut auf Haushaltsdisziplin ein. «Die Konsequenz aus Kreditaufnahme und Schulden und kann nicht sein, dass man neue Kredite aufnimmt und neue Schulden macht», sagte Hague. «Das wäre nicht fair für die nächste Generation». » | miw/sda | Sonntag 02. Oktober 2011

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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Thousands protest against Cameron's cuts: About 35,000 people have turned out in Manchester to demonstrate against government budget cuts as Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives opened their annual conference. » | AFP | Monday, October 03, 2011

Grande Bretagne: 35 000 personnes dénoncent les coupes budgétaires

CYBERPRESSE.CA: Environ 35 000 personnes ont défilé à Manchester dimanche, au premier jour du congrès du Parti conservateur britannique au pouvoir, organisé dans cette ville du nord-ouest de l'Angleterre, pour dénoncer les restrictions budgétaires, selon la police.

«Conservateurs pourris, dehors», ont crié les manifestants en passant devant le centre qui accueille la conférence nationale des Tories.

De nombreux fonctionnaires, dont des enseignants et des sapeurs-pompiers, mais aussi des employés du privé ont répondu à l'appel de la confédération des syndicats britanniques, le Trades Union Congress (TUC), qui a intitulé le défilé «L'alternative - emplois, croissance, justice».

«Je suis contre la politique du gouvernement de réduction du montant des retraites. Il y des milliers de personnes ici, mais connaissant les conservateurs, je doute qu'ils écoutent, a estimé Gerry Collier, 64 ans, employé dans une entreprise de vérification des alarmes incendie.

Les pancartes dans la foule affirmaient «Les coupes ne sont pas le remède», «Manchester, une ville unie contre les coupes» ou encore «Il doit partir», un message adressé au premier ministre conservateur David Cameron. » | Agence France-Presse | MANCHESTER | Dimanche 02 Octobre 2011

Conservative Party Conference 2011: Cameron Says UK Should Stay in the EU

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Prime Minister David Cameron today said he would not support a referendum on UK membership of the European Union.

It was revealed today that MPs are set to vote on a referendum within the next few months, after a petition with more than 100,000 signatures was submitted calling for the public to be given the chance to decide whether Britain should stay in the EU.

Speaking at the start of the Conservative Party in Manchester, Mr Cameron said he did not believe the UK should quit the EU.

And he played down the prospect of the Government repatriating powers from Brussels in the near future.

The Government's immediate priority on Europe is to get the crisis in the eurozone sorted out and revive the continent's economy, he said.

The Commons Backbench Business Committee is expected to set a date before Christmas for a one-day debate in the House of Commons on a referendum on EU membership. The vote will not be binding on the Government, but if MPs back a referendum, it will put massive pressure on Mr Cameron to put the issue to the country.

The committee's Labour chairman Natascha Engel told the Mail on Sunday: "Given the crisis in the eurozone, this issue has become more relevant than ever. There is a clear majority of backbench MPs who want to debate this and we have to respond to that.

"The EU today is completely different from the one the British people voted to join in 1975. It is time to examine the position again.

"For years it has suited successive governments to avoid debating whether Britain should leave the EU. The whole purpose of my committee is to make sure the big issues of the day are aired in Parliament. People in pubs and shops all over Britain are discussing our membership of the EU and it is time MPs openly debated it too."

But Mr Cameron told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show: "It's not our view that there should be an in/out referendum. I don't want Britain to leave the EU. I think it's the wrong answer for Britain. » | Matthew Holehouse | Sunday, October 02, 2011

Michael Gove Proposes Teaching Foreign Languages from Age Five
THE GUARDIAN: Education secretary outlines plans ahead of Tory conference, including extension of school day and tougher truancy fines

The education secretary, Michael Gove, has proposed that every child aged five or over should be learning a foreign language, and promised to "pull every lever", including encouraging longer school days, to make it happen.

In a pre-Conservative conference interview, he says: "There is a slam-dunk case for extending foreign language teaching to children aged five.

"Just as some people have taken a perverse pride in not understanding mathematics, so we have taken a perverse pride in the fact that we do not speak foreign languages, and we just need to speak louder in English. It is literally the case that learning languages makes you smarter. The neural networks in the brain strengthen as a result of language learning." » | Patrick Wintour and Nicholas Watt | Friday, September 30, 2011

THE GUARDIAN: Conservative conference: Gove spells out next step on his agenda for schools: Education secretary talks to the Guardian about his proposals for teaching modern languages and denies free schools are elitist » | Nicholas Watt and Patrick Wintour | Friday, September 30, 2011

Tory Logo Goes Rainbow for Gay Conference Event
THE TELEGRAPH: The Tory blue tree logo has been turned rainbow for the party’s first gay pride disco at this year’s Conservative conference.

The logo was displayed on the Conservative Party website as part of events billed as Conference Pride at the annual political gathering in Manchester Photo: The Telegraph
Around 700 guests are expected at the event, which is being held in Canal Street, in the gay area of Manchester where the conference is being held, on October 6.

There will be a speech by Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, and a performance from the singer Angie Brown.

Surprise guests will attend, including a mystery “senior shadow cabinet member,” who will deliver a speech.

A party spokesman said: “The logo is being rebranded in rainbow colours for this event, to reflect the nature of the night.

“We have all sorts of rebranding for all sorts of different events.”

Andrew Brierly, 29, a party activist from Clapham, south London, said the event is sign the party is modernising its image to appeal to new voters.

He said: "By hosting events like this it is hoped that voters will recognise that the Conservative party is at the forefront of agenda-setting politics. >>> Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | Thursday, August 27, 2009