Martha Kearney, political reporter, interviewed Oliver Letwin MP (the Shadow – Conservative opposition Chancellor – and key ally of David Cameron) on BBC 2 Television Newsnight at 10.55 pm on 2.10.2006. She told Oliver Letwin “Labour has had a disastrous time. You must be disappointed. The Conservatives are only 1% ahead in the polls (according to the Sunday Mirror which put the Conservatives on 36% and Labour on 25% on 1.10.2006). Mr. Letwin replied “I’d like to be further ahead. Prime Minister Blair made a fine speech at the end of his conference which may have helped Labour. We hope to get a boost at the end of our conference too.”

BBC 2 Newsnight said at 10.45 pm on 2.10.2006 “In October 1989 (the same period of the electoral cycle before the 1992 General Election as we are in now regarding the next General Election – probably in 2009) Labour (then in opposition to the governing Conservatives) were 10% ahead of Labour in the polls – but Labour still went on to lose the 1992 General Election. Today the Conservatives are just 1% ahead of Labour according to ICM in yesterday’s Sunday Mirror.”

Britannist says: Labour got 43% of the vote at the May 1997 General Election when Blair, full of promises (none kept), became Prime Minister. The Sunday Mirror ICM poll published on 1.10.2006 puts the Conservatives on 36% and Labour on 35%. This means that – compared to their 1997 share of the vote, Labour are down 8% - but the Cameron-led Conservatives have only picked up 3% of that 8% - the rest has gone to UKIP and other small parties (UKIP was on an increased 4% share of the vote in one poll out last week). Proof that the pro-EU stance of the Conservative Party has stopped it gaining most of the votes lost by Labour. If the Conservatives had continued to follow the increasingly eurosceptic path of Mrs. Thatcher (following her 1988 Bruges speech) it would now have nearly all of that 8% lost by Labour and would have reached the ‘magic’ 43% vote share in the opinion polls which it needs to have a chance of getting a majority in the House of Commons.

David Cameron’s “don’t talk about europe” policy of being pro-EU and against committing to lower taxes is blocking the Conservative Party from getting those vital ‘lost’ Labour votes.

* Despite visits from David Cameron, the Conservatives failed to perform well in the last Parliamentary By-Election in Scotland and nearly lost the seat of Bromley in the Parliamentary By-Election held there in June 2006. Mr. Cameron made several visits during the Bromley By-Election campaign.

* BBC 2 Television Newsnight said on 2.10.2006 at 10.49 pm that the Midlands Industrial Council (which allegedly contributes to the Conservative Party) is “pro-low tax, eurosceptic and against the flow of business regulations.” Comment: The question is – if it is eurosceptic and if it is giving money to the Conservative Party – why is it accepting the pro-EU ‘don’t talk about europe’ policy of those presently in charge of Conservative strategy.
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If Leftwing thinks people even bother to watch the party conferences, nevermind let it sway them in any significant way, then he is a deluded fool.

The only people that do care are sad ******** like us and our opinions tend to be formed already.
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Originally Posted by mkpdavies:
If Leftwing thinks people even bother to watch the party conferences, nevermind let it sway them in any significant way, then he is a deluded fool.

The only people that do care are sad b******s like us and our opinions tend to be formed already.

They used to show party conference coverage at length on both BBC 1 and the main ITV. It used to be on most of the day on these channels (including coverage of the CBI and TUC conferences). Now it's about an hour and a half a day on BBC 2 I think (Andrew Neil) and the rest has been shunted over to BBC Parliament where it hardly tops the national viewing ratings. A large part of the electorate are presently sick of politicians, to be frank.

They'll show a big conference speech (by a party leader) live - but the rest does not, I suspect, get as many viewers as a film or a repeat of a popular comedy might.
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I've watched a bit of the Tory conference on BBC Parliament (when the signal is strong enough to my set top box) out of curiosity.

I was surprised just how tedious it all was. Apart from the speeches with no content, even the chairing and introducing of speakers was more amateurish than I expected. The webcameron and the film that preceeded the speech by Cain was embarrassingly awful even to me, a Tory opponent.
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Originally Posted by eublues:
I've watched a bit of the Tory conference on BBC Parliament (when the signal is strong enough to my set top box) out of curiosity.

I was surprised just how tedious it all was. Apart from the speeches with no content, even the chairing and introducing of speakers was more amateurish than I expected. The webcameron and the film that preceeded the speech by Cain was embarrassingly awful even to me, a Tory opponent.

Right into the nineties, both BBC and ITV would broadcast live coverage of the party conferences (on both channels at the same time). Those days are clearly over.

I'll watch the television coverage of David Cameron's 'main' speech to the Conservative Party conference later today (Wednesay 4.10.2006) just to see if he says anything about the EU - and what he says if he does touch on the subject (which won't be for long, I'm sure).

I wonder what the viewing figures are for the live coverage of the party conferences. I bet they are incredibly low. Some party conferences have built up the reputation over at least the last two decades for being stage-managed. Consequently, the public turn off - especially as most people can receive so many other channels or can put a video tape/DVD film on instead :shock: .
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I've just been listening to that dirty little spiv Cameron delivering his 'big speech'

What a crock of Blairite cr*p!

Radio 4 described his reception as 'warm rather than enthusiastic'

Pity the grubby little rat with the silver spoon in his mouth doesn't have the guts to speak to an audience of real patriots.instead of the dwindling band of brain-dead geriatrics who populate the Tory conference. He'd get a warm welcome all right.

The traitorous rat deserves to be tarred and feathered before being sent packing with a patriotic boot in his well-padded Eton-educated backside.
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WHAT DID YOU THINK OF CAMERON'S SPEECH?
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David Cameron has just completed his first main conference speech since becoming leader of the Conservative party.

It seemed to go down well with those in the hall, but what did you make of it? Has David Cameron won your vote? Is he doing enough to win the next election?

Click here to tell us what you think:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight...ns_speech.html
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I've just posted Margaret.
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Just forced myself to sit through Cameron's speech on BBC Parliament channel.

What a load of total twaddle, delivered in the most tedious slow manner I could imagine.

Very encouraging!
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I was ready to switch to the Conservative party when it was assumed that the verbally impaired D Davies was going to be leader. As soon as 'Dave' was voted into the hotseat. I gave up that idea. The man repulses me.
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