Tory conference

Given that the current Labour government in Britain is morally bankrupt as it:

- Calls for MORE big government to try to get elected;
- Lies about the need for spending cuts, then admits they are needed after no one believes it.

and is third in the polls, you might hope the Conservative Party would be worth looking forward to.

Well the party conference is a chance to present itself as a government in waiting, so what have we seen so far?

- Boris Johnson demanding a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, even if every other country ratifies it. I'll believe it when I see it, as William Hague has said the CURRENT policy is a referendum. Frankly, all that matters to me is that the UK relationship to Brussels is renegotiated;
- Promises that every town will have a school for tradespeople. Oh dear.
- Boris Johnson noting that he has freezed the Greater London Assembly portion of Council tax for another year, and will again next year, and wants the forthcoming 50p tax rate abolished;
- National Insurance (a tax) to be abolished for new companies for the first two years;
- Waffle about cutting "NHS red tape" to save money;
- People on incapacity benefits to face tough tests to check if they are capable of working.

Yawn.

Janet Daley in the Sunday Telegraph made a great point when she demanded the Tories put forward the moral case for spending cuts.

"The Conservatives must stake their claim to be the party that has a positive account, a morally attractive case, for saying that public spending – which is to say, the power of the state – can and should be reduced permanently. Sounds like heresy? Only if you buy into the lexicon of the Labour-Guardian-"equality" lobby – which is, of course, precisely what Mr Brown wants you to do."

"David Cameron's Tories can present themselves as sole custodians of the future in which a smaller state will mean a stronger society."

I'm not holding my breath. This is, after all, the party that still believes in stopping a private company expanding its airport.