Translated material
Conservatives threaten to beat the prime minister
And arm the British army because of terrorists and the USSR
“My father was a stockbroker (engaged in stock trading - Ed. ), and my mother was a municipal judge. I had a prosperous and happy childhood. I studied at a wonderful school and graduated from a wonderful university. And I'm not ashamed of any of this. Because all this was possible thanks to my country and the opportunities it provides to its citizens,” these are the words from an emotional speech that the head of the British Conservatives, David Cameron, delivered yesterday at his party’s annual convention in Blackpool.Cameron cannot boast of being “of the people” and being educated at a public school. An aristocrat whose ancestry goes back to King William IV, and coming from a wealthy family, he received an excellent education. But many modern politicians are proud of their ordinary origins. Samantha, David's wife (pictured) , is also from an aristocratic family. The Camerons have two sons and a daughter. This is the man the Conservatives trusted to lead them out of ten years of opposition and back into Downing Street. Cameron himself, who will turn 41 on October 9, is convinced that at the next election he will defeat the current Prime Minister, 56-year-old Gordon Brown .
This is not an easy matter. Recent polls show Brown leading Cameron by seven to ten points. True, as Patrick Dunlevy, a professor at the London School of Economics, explained to Vremya Novostey, the authority of the Labor Party, which had been shaken in the last year of Tony Blair's reign, naturally went up with the appointment of a new prime minister. In addition, in the first three months of work, Brown showed himself to be a skilled leader, skillfully maneuvering in difficult situations. "However, our calculations show that voter confidence in the prime minister is generally declining by an average of 0.1% per month," Mr Dunleavy said. “So Brown is on a bit of a honeymoon now, which can’t last long.”
Maybe that's why Brown is considering calling a snap general election. And this despite the fact that he can sit quietly in the prime minister’s chair until June 2010, when five years have passed since the last elections. But in the eyes of voters he will remain a less than legitimate leader. After all, it was not he, but Blair who won the election in 2005.
Encouraged by high ratings, Brown may risk running for office this fall. But competing with the young and energetic Cameron, who not only knows economics and finance well, but also worked for five years in a large PR company, can be very difficult.
What program must the Conservatives come up with to defeat a political heavyweight like Gordon Brown? I asked Nick Wood, a journalist and writer who has been a speechwriter for several Conservative leaders, about this. “We need to clearly explain to the public what kind of country they will live in if there is a Conservative prime minister sitting in Downing Street,” he replied. - Don’t utter slogans, but set out in detail the differences between your position and the Labor Party’s policy. And most importantly, say it in such a way that people believe you.” Judging by the reaction of the congress delegates and the first polls of British people on the streets of cities, Cameron's confident speech, which he delivered without a piece of paper, satisfied both of these conditions.
Its main principle is to give people more control over their lives, to make the decisions they make depend not on officials, but on themselves. Once in power, the Conservative government will give greater rights to school principals and university rectors, hospital chief doctors and primary care physicians. They, experts in their field, and not officials from the ministry, will decide how to manage funds and who to hire. “The idea is that the school principal should answer not so much to officials as to the parents of his students, and the head physician to the patients,” Cameron said.
Following conservative traditions, he emphasized that he is ready to abolish the tax on the purchase of real estate, the cost of which does not exceed 280 thousand pounds (560 thousand dollars). Now the buyer of such housing pays a tax of 1.5-2%. That is, the Conservatives want to make it easier for the least wealthy people to purchase real estate.
Cameron also promised to raise the inheritance tax threshold to £1 million ($2 million). Wealth that is less than this amount will be exempt from government fees. According to economists, this will make the inheritance process easier for 9 million Britons.
Conservative authorities will pay great attention to security issues. They are going to increase the size of the army and navy and provide them with more modern weapons. “It is stupid to reduce the armed forces and nuclear potential when 15 thousand missiles with nuclear warheads are deployed on the territory of the former USSR alone, when Iran is striving for atomic weapons, and al-Qaeda is preparing new terrorist attacks,” says Cameron.
“Voters have been given a clear picture of Cameron's plans. The Conservatives have gone on the offensive, and it will not be easy for Labor to retain power in early elections,” political scientist John Croft, close to Labor, noted to VN. “Until today, conservatives were wary of early elections, but now they are much more confident.” And shadow foreign secretary William Hague said yesterday: “If Brown has the courage to call an election in the autumn, we will beat him. Because we are ready to win and we are hungry to win.”