Posted on 10/11/2002 1:06:54 AM PDT by MadIvan
Iain Duncan Smith established his identity as Tory leader yesterday by portraying himself as the determined "quiet man" of politics who would take on the more flamboyant Tony Blair.
He brought the Conservative Party conference in Bournemouth to a close with a confident prediction that "the Conservatives are back".
Mr Duncan Smith sought to break free of the party's past and gave his full backing to the modernising agenda that has infuriated the old guard and unsettled many activists.
He established a real bond with the representatives when he explained his philosophy, tackling head-on criticism that he lacked charisma and had not yet made an impact with the public.
"Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man," he told the conference to a standing ovation of seven minutes - more than twice the reception the Prime Minister received at Blackpool.
The decision to describe himself as the quiet man is the biggest gamble he has taken since becoming leader a year ago. But his advisers hope it will play to his strengths, emphasising that he is a man for whom getting things done is more important than words.
"He may not be flamboyant but he is very determined," a spokesman said. Officials said that Mr Duncan Smith regarded Mr Blair as "an actor who moves from one cameo role to another".
There were few jokes apart from a couple of jibes at New Labour over "cool Britannia" and the fiasco of the Millennium Dome. Mr Duncan Smith revealed what a difficult first year he had had when he said: "If a week is a long time in politics, then a year sometimes seems like a lifetime."
He sought to present the conference as a turning point: the week when the Conservatives had begun the "slow, hard road back to power".
He had arrived in Bournemouth with rumblings of discontent over his leadership prompted by the party's poor showing in the polls and the welter of adverse publicity over figures from the past, including Lord Archer's prison escapades and the affair between Edwina Currie and John Major.
But the conference was seen by officials as a success because it had enabled them to demonstrate that they had drawn up 25 new policies for reforming public services.
The view of senior MPs was that Mr Duncan Smith had gained a breathing space to demonstrate that he could revive the party, but that the leadership issue could return if the Tories did badly in next May's round of English local elections and polls for the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. Although he did not repeat the comment by Theresa May, the party chairman, that the Tories were seen as the "nasty party", he gave her his full backing. If they did not modernise, they would face further electoral defeat on the scale of the 1997 landslide.
He said the time had come to "move on". The party must stop dwelling on past glories, face up to past mistakes and prepare for new challenges.
Those who wanted to "re-fight the battles of the past" would be left behind. "We must understand the way life in Britain is lived today and not the way it was lived 20 years ago," he said.
When the Tories were in power, they had made people financially better off - "but money isn't everything and, in other ways, the quality of their lives declined".
In a break with Thatcherite rhetoric, he underlined his belief in society and praised the role of hard-pressed public servants such as teachers, nurses and the police.
He attacked Labour's record in power, saying: "Britain isn't working." Labour was putting up taxes but had not improved services.
Mr Duncan Smith said the Tories would hand more power back to the people, giving them more choice over health and education.
If the party did not trust people to lead their own lives, to choose their schools and hospitals and run their families and businesses, they would never again trust the Conservatives.
He said the party would extend the dream of home-ownership to a new generation by extending the right to buy - one of the flagship reforms of the Thatcher era.
The Tories would ensure that the state no longer seized the homes and savings of elderly people in need of long-term care and would abolish the "ridiculous" rule that pensioners had to purchase an annuity at the age of 75.
He rejected criticism of his support for Mr Blair over Iraq. He said he would not play political games with national security and would put country first. Action to disarm Saddam Hussein must be taken before it was too late.
Mr Duncan Smith described how he had been shaped by his experience in the Army and being made redundant in the last recession. He was warmly applauded when he recalled how he had defied John Major over the Maastricht treaty.
"So when I was told I had no future in Parliament because of my determination to keep Britain's independence and because of my determination to keep the pound, I did not waver.
"Those who do not know me yet will come to understand this. 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. Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man."
I am pleased that IDS has apparently found some semblance of this idea. The idea of quiet determination rather than spin is very appealing. And IDS has just killed the whole charisma issue by saying he's not flash, rather, he's purposeful. Well done. If now the rest of the Tories would promise to be the quiet party - i.e., one that would get the government the hell out of our way and off the television - now there's a strategy.
Regards, Ivan (A Tory)
It's actually a John Wayne film. ;)
Regards, Ivan
By the way, Ivan, I actually think that line is in the movie, spoken by the Protestant minister to his wife.
a.cricket
You could do worse that to admire a hero of Ronald Reagan's!
And did you notice how that Quiet man needed a fiesty Irish broad to gee him up! :-)
Love, Ivan
Ah, yes, the famed Celtic Gleam of Murder in action:
Indeed, darling. I wonder if emulating my hero Calvin Coolidge was part of what brought us together. ;)
Love, Ivan
And I thought you were a Blair bot ;-) ~ducking~
You are inviting the wrath of Mr. Tickle, darling. ;)
Love, Ivan
BTW, "Are you happy?" ;)
Love, Ivan
And with better taste, better policies, he is much more of a Thatcherite...in fact he's not John Major at all, darling. ;)
Love, Ivan
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