Yesterdays speech to the Conservative Party conference by David Cameron was well structured and delivered. Without notes or an autocue he painted a picture of what he wanted to do if elected to run Britain.
Of course Tony Blair also delivered good speeches and we should know now to look at the substance. Certain things jumped out at me as items of concern. He will not sign the latest European Treaty and will pull Britain out of the Social Chapter. You have to ask how our partners will react to this and whether continued membership would be possible. He talked about expelling unruly pupils from Schools but nothing about what would happen to them then. It is unlikely that for many of these children family would be able to or want to give the love and support necessary so we do need a state able to intervene. Tax cuts are back on the agenda however so are promises of more public spending. More prison places and a bigger army for example. Increased competitiveness for business looks to be at the expense of workers rights and wages. He talks well about the environment yet not one single policy that would make a major difference to carbon emissions has been adopted. There was some good stuff too. On Local Government and on how weak we are to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Overall a days good publicity however I doubt that the speech will make any difference to Gordon Brown when deciding when to call the election. Perhaps it may make him rule out a television debate because Cameron is a far better performer.
Away from the politicians administrators who would have to carry out any election in November have been warning that up to a million people may be disenfranchised. New electoral registers do not come on stream until December so that those who have moved in the last year, or those that have recently turned 18, may have problems voting. Applications can be made to go on a rolling register however Local Authorities are going to need to take on shed loads of staff to process all these as well as postal votes.
We do not seem to have the necessary systems in place to carry out an election with little notice called at the whim of a Prime Minister so you wonder why we give them that power. Gordon Brown is at risk of seeming to put the interests of the Labour Party above those of the country and he needs to make a decision quickly.