Tories preparing for power, says Cameron

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David Cameron has said that this year's Conservative conference will show that "we are ready for government".

Writing in the Tory conference edition of the House Magazine, the Opposition leader pledged that while he is not "complacent" his task is to show the public that his party is ready for power and "set out clearly our plan for change".

Cameron wrote that the Birmingham gathering will explain "what we want to achieve and how we’ll go about it".

"I don't want to win the next general election for the sake of winning, or to win it on the back of Labour's failure," he said.

"I want us to win because people have voted positively for the change we will bring - a win that would not just be a transfer of power from the Labour Party to the Conservative Party, but a transfer of power from the state to society."

Cameron promised that "members of the shadow cabinet will discuss how we intend to provide hundreds of good new schools, to tackle the growing rate of violent crime, to end the culture of long-term welfare dependency, to strengthen and support families, to go green while helping families with the cost of living, and to respond to a world of new and unpredictable threats".

He added: "On the final day of conference we are going to have a session on preparing for government, in which we will set out the framework within which each government department will be expected to operate and deliver our manifesto commitments."

Complacency

But despite strong opinion poll leads and Labour's internal divisions, he cautioned fellow Conservatives against complacency.

"The phrase 'go back to your constituencies and prepare for government' won't be used," the Tory leader said.

"We are not arrogant enough to be complacent. This is about making sensible preparations for the possibility that we will soon be in a position to implement our policies in government."

Cameron also argued that "we are ready for government in a way that Labour wasn't in 1997".

"Labour has made many announcements and sometimes appears to think that announcement equals implementation," he said.

"It doesn't. That's why I've set up an implementation unit to prepare for government, and formally requested the assignment of two senior civil servants to work with us ahead of the next election.

"Not because the next election is in the bag, but because we have a responsibility to the British people to be ready to govern effectively if they choose to elect us."

And he predicted that the general election may well come within the next 12 months.

"Judging by the way things are going, this conference may well be the last one we have before the people get that choice," he said. "I hope it is."

Pickles

Speaking to ePolitix.com earlier this month, shadow communities secretary Eric Pickles also denied that he had said the Conservatives would win power.

"I think I said this," Pickles clarified. "It is difficult if not impossible for Labour to win the next general election.

"But it is perfectly possible for the Conservative Party to lose the election.

"By which I was saying that I think all the attention now is on for us to lose, and we have got to ensure that we retain party discipline."

The conference must also "give the people a very good idea of what a Conservative government would be like," he added.