IDS: the quiet man hits out

In a frank but upbeat conclusion to his party's conference, Iain Duncan Smith has told the country that "the Conservatives are back".

In a speech that sought to draw a line under the legacy of two disastrous election defeats, the Tory leader told his party not to underestimate his determination to stick to the course he has set.

After a week in which his party has set out a series of new policy initiatives for education, health, crime and pensions, Duncan Smith said that the Conservatives were now "fit for government".

The underlying theme, his advisers said, was of setting out "a sense of the Conservative mission".

His message to a public "tired of politics and crying out for change" was that he had learned the lessons of past mistakes by both Conservative and Labour governments.

And he told the party faithful that they had to learn to live with the changes in society that they had promoted.

"We cannot remain the only part of Britain untouched by the changes that we ourselves unleashed," he said. "The country has moved on and so must we."

Siding firmly with the party's modernisers, Duncan Smith gave his full support to party chairman Theresa May's "excellent" call for the party to change.

Iain Duncan Smith's spokesman admitted that rounding on the party's old guard was a calculated gamble.

"There is an element of risk but our judgement is that we have made progress this week," he said.

In a speech drafted earlier this summer, the Conservative leader said that his party had made mistakes while in government.

"All of us here remember the good things we did and there were many - but beyond this hall people too often remember the hurt we caused and the anger they felt.

"Well I say this to you - never again," he vowed.

Duncan Smith warned that unless his party learned the lessons of the 1997 election defeat "we will go on getting the result of 1997".

"So to those who want to re-fight the battles of the past, and to those who want to live in the past, I simply say this: You stay in the past, we are moving on," he said.

Duncan Smith said Tony Blair had failed to deliver on his promises to the British people.

"He promised so much to so many. How sad it has all come to so little."

The Conservative leader said that after five years of running the country, the blame for overcrowded hospitals, dangerous streets, troubled schools and a neglected countryside rested firmly with the prime minister.

While saying that the "neglected heroes" working in the public sector were not to blame for poor services, Duncan Smith said that pleas for "more time and more money" would not be accepted by the party when in government.

Duncan Smith said his shadow cabinet had "travelled the world" in the last 12 months in the search for new policies.

He said that there would be "no gimmicks, no clever wheezes" for the party

In education, he said there would be help for children in failing schools, while patients stuck on NHS waiting lists would also benefit from the party's new plans.

On crime, he backed Oliver Letwin's promise to help young drug addicts "accept rehabilitation and rescue [their] own lives".

And Duncan Smith also pleased the Tory faithful by attacking the government for undermining the traditional family.

"The more we can help families flourish the richer our society is. No one in society gets stronger by making families weaker," he warned.

With a new policy agenda in place, Duncan Smith said his personal experiences would give him the strength to drive them through in government.

"I was made redundant in the tough times of the last recession and I had to start all over again," he said.

"Try being told that you've just lost your job. Try telling people they've just lost theirs.

"I've been through both and its puts the world of politics completely into perspective."

He said he would not waver in his determination to stick to his plan for the future.

"When I say a thing I mean it. When I set myself a task, I do it. When I settle on a course I stick to it," he said.

Duncan Smith sought to highlight the "clear juxtaposition" of his style of leadership with that of the prime minister - described by party officials as a "flambouyant actor".

"Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man," warned Duncan Smith.

Accepting that there had been some impatience in the party over the time taken to bring forward new policies, Duncan Smith said he was now moving in the right direction.

"This will be remembered as the week when the Conservatives began the slow, hard road back to power," he said.

Stressing his determination to "make Britain a better place than it is today", Duncan Smith pledged to fight for the tolerance and decency of the British people.

"This week we have rediscovered our convictions," he said.

"So get out there and tell the world - the Conservatives are back."