DAVID Cameron will tell the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today that the Tories can make the 2010s the “turnaround decade”, putting Britain on a secure economic course and solving the country’s deep-seated social problems.
Ahead of his keynote speech this morning, the Prime Minister made clear that Boris Johnson would get a Cabinet role when he relinquished the London mayoralty next May; raising the prospect that the first significant reshuffle of this parliament will take place before the summer of 2016 ahead of the run-in to the in-out referendum on Britain’s EU membership.
With the party in good heart following the General Election victory, which means there is, for the first since 1997 a Conservative majority government, Mr Cameron is expected to set out his vision for the rest of the decade at the end of which he intends to stand down as PM.
In his keynote address, the party leader will say that, having put the economic crisis of 2008 behind it, the UK can now look forward to brighter times.
“I believe we can make this era – these 2010s – a defining decade for our country, the turnaround decade, one which people will look back on and say: ‘That’s the time when the tide turned, when people no longer felt the current going against them but working with them.’
“Because we know this; nothing is written. We’ve proved it in our schools across our country; that the poorest children don’t have to get the worst results, they can get the best. Over the next five years we will show that the deep problems in our society; they’re not inevitable.”
The undercurrent to the conference has been who will succeed Mr Cameron as Tory leader. Downing Street sources insisted his intention was to stand down as PM in 2020.
Asked about the contenders jockeying to replace him, the party leader said: "I'm very proud that I run a team and a team with some real stars.
"We are seeing this week great speeches by Boris Johnson - we've just heard a vision for how we bring our country together - a great speech by Theresa May, one of the architects of modernisation of the Conservative Party, a brilliant speech by George Osborne about changing the way we run our country.
"It demonstrates the Conservative Party is a team of leaders, not simply one person; a team that's got great ideas and visions for the future, so I couldn't be happier."
Mr Cameron said he was "looking forward" to bringing Mr Johnson into No 10.
Asked if the MP for Uxbridge, who currently attends the political Cabinet, would get a ministerial job, the PM was unequivocal, saying: "Definitely. We will have to see which one but definitely."
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