David Cameron's conference speech - live stream from 11.15am today

Cameron is accused of being an out-of-touch toff who is privileged and has never faced hardship. But that is not true, his money and background don't make him immune to suffering. I think he mentioned his disabled son who died young and his father who had no heels and who had his legs amputated, partly to show that he does know about disability and that he is not a heartless uncaring person.

The Tory scum and heartless image that is painted of Tories is a caricature and a cheap trick used by political opponents who are often just as privileged.

I think you should indeed be proud chipstick- but I think their achievements have clearly been partly achieved through state aid in the form of education expenditure which you are now happy to see withdrawn from future generations, and that is not something to be proud of.

Oh and btw I'm in a job which 15 or so years ago would have been considered comfortably middle class.

You are poor if you cannot live on what you earn. A private rented house in my crappy area of se London costs 1500 a month. I can afford to live here only because I have a rich ex husband. A property company owns the house, is letting it go relatively uncared for and is
Making a lovely profit out of myself and ex h.

I do not understand how normal middle earning families are supposed to live for as long as we lack affordable housing. I am fine as I've said. If I had to live on what I earn the kids and I would be in a 1 bed flat.

Thanks domestic i am very proud of my children and their achievements.

FFS 'poor', hands up who is really poor rather than having to go back to living on what they earn rather than relying on handouts by way of certain credits from the government.

The benefit bill increases and the tax revenue plummet - David should does not avoid this issue so the poor have to pay not the rich- hence 10 bill benefit cuts.
The ending of Housing Benefit to under 25s is ill-conceived-
What about disabled young adults? What about care leavers?
What about young parents? It is pointless empty words. This will lead to damaging legal action based on human rights violation---I am so sorry for all this mess- march on 20.10.12

Good for you, chipstick. I guess you are proud to have climbed
The ladder and then seen it get kicked away from the rest of the people at the bottom.

The Tories do not want there to be state schools or affordable higher education for much longer. And you support them. Looks as if your grandchildren won't be as lucky as your children were. Hope you're fine with that.

Oh, and the fact that they won't have a health service to rely on either.

Great username, BridgetBidet. ;)

Would they have been able to go if they'd had to pay £30,000 tuition fees? I don't see how plunging the children of poorer parents into huge debt if they want a good education is offering the opportunity for all?

Certainly not going to help them with saving up a deposit to get on the ol' housing ladder he's banging on about is it?

My brilliant children, whose parents are not millionaires both educated in a state school, who worked hard to get to uni, who both came away with first class and high 2 1 degrees, are certainly not big failures. They are the children DC was talking about.

You think the only way a child gets an opportunity is if they're the offspring of millionaires? hmm Does that mean - assuming you're not a millionaire and assuming you have DCs - that you think they might as well not bother trying & just give up now, because they're automatically going to be a big failure?

If Cameron and the Tory party get their way, then certainly.

You think the only way a child gets an opportunity is if they're the offspring of millionaires? Does that mean - assuming you're not a millionaire and assuming you have DCs - that you think they might as well not bother trying & just give up now, because they're automatically going to be a big failure?

GO Ttosca go - I agree with you wholeheartedly but haven't the emotional energy required to argue with tories. I did hear that DC wanted all children to have the same oppotunities as his children. That shouldn't be a problem, make all parents millionaires -job done.

I will say again, I disagree, I think that turn of phrase illustrates perfectly the cynicism involved in using his child in that way. You can be as sanctimonious as you want but to me that's a strategy of trying to minimise the unpleasantness of what Cameron did by blaming me for saying it rather than him for doing it.

*Edit, sorry just googled and he did give an interview to Piers Morgan before the election when he did just that. But whoever it is from I don't like it.

Politics aside I think it is absolutely despicable to use a phrase like 'wheeling out the dead baby' in ANY circumstances about ANY person.

To suggest that someone uses a reference to their deceased child for political leverage is a very strong accusation, and to use the kind of phraseology above calls into question not only the judgement of the person using it but their general moral worth.

There are many politicians I distrust and do not like. Name-calling and offensive jibes I consider inappropriate for grown-up political debate.

No. If he hadn't mentioned his child I wouldn't have called him cold hearted. I don't expect politicians to reference their personal lives in their speeches and would prefer if they didn't.

I happen to be of the opinion that Gordon Brown was the worst PM we've ever had but to his credit despite him being in dire straits politically he didn't wheel out the dead baby or harp on about Fraser's illness at his party conference did he?

Oh yes... 'tough' choices... mmm... ... tough on the public, easy on the rich.

What I liked about the speech was that, unlike Labour, at least the PM doesn't try to make out that there is some easy solution, some government magic wand that will suddenly create prosperity. I really don't understand the hostility towards a man referencing his late son in a speech when talking about the legacy of the Paralympics. If he never mentioned the child presumably the same people would be accusing him of being cold-hearted?

They ARE party political broadcasts. I suspect you are being disingenuous pretending that this isn't the case. They are the main showcases for the party's policies, of course they are intended as party political broadcasts.

And yes I used the phrase 'the dead baby being wheeled out' because it seems descriptive of the cynical attitude of using this event in his life to drum up votes.

His son's death although incredibly sad doesn't affect how good or bad his policies are. Child mortality isn't just exclusive to virtuous people who would be good at running the country.

If he wants to win votes he should stick to his policies rather than courting the sympathy vote.

Party conferences are held to rally the troops. Obviously they will receive some degree of coverage by the news, but they are not party political broadcasts.

I'm really at a loss to understand how such comments as
the dead baby being wheeled out
is fine, but him refering his own real, life is wrong.

Sunflowers if you think that the party conference speeches are designed purely for the people in the main hall you're either naive or deluded. The fact we're discussing it on here might be a clue, as is the fact it's one of the top stories on most news outlets as were Milliband and Clegg's speeches.

Party conference speeches are an opportunity for the parties to set out to the wider pubic the parties agenda and to win votes whilst the speech itself is given a decent reception before a sympathetic audience. The speeches certainly aren't designed purely to appeal to just to the delegates when they know it will be reported to a much higher audience.

I don't have a problem with him discussing Ivan (or his father's disabilities) in the right context but when it's done in a speech which is vital for winning support for the Tories it makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

And I say this as someone who tends to support the Tories, I just don't like it, it's crass and exploitative.

Sunflower, correct.

Tory scum taking money of the poor to give to the rich. You can't get much lower. Apart from using your dead sons memory, of course.