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The 2012 gathering revealed much about the party's dominant ideology, its fears and the popularity of Boris Johnson Share 6 inShare0 Email The Conservatives spent all week trying to assert their own 'one nation' credentials. Photograph: Jon Super/AP 1. 'White van' Conservatism is now the dominant ideology in the party The phrase comes from Robert Halfon, the Harlow MP, but other Tories talk about blue collar Conservatism or helping the "strivers", and Eric Pickles puts it in terms of Essex values. Alternatively, you could call it Tabloid Toryism, or just Thatcherism. It's the thread that binds together all the main announcements at the conference, such as curbs on benefit claimants, the "stab-a-burglar" law, tougher punishments for offenders and the council-tax freeze. Individually, these policies may be quite popular, but collectively they depict a grim picture of Britain, which is why the "nasty party" label has been h

A competent address to the Tory conference shows he has substance, but tells us little we didn't already know Share 9 inShare0 Email David Cameron's speech was not one for the history books. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA It was a competent leader's speech, one that reminded his listeners that David Cameron has more substance to him than the effervescent Boris Johnson, but also a flat speech for pretty flat times. This summer's Olympics and Paralympics are a warm glow in the national consciousness, but winter is drawing in and the economic spring seems as far away as ever. Actually, Cameron went one worse than that, as his friend and ally George Osborne did on Monday. If the old "sclerotic" economies of the west, the world's dominant powers for 500 years, don't get their act together to match the resurgent power of Asia – and Latin America, Africa even – we are all in trouble. He wants Britain to be buccaneering again, "an aspiration nati

There were a few notable omissions from the prime minister's address – including the Lib Dems and the police Share 19 inShare0 Email David Cameron addresses the Tory conference in Birmingham. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images 1. The police. With Andrew Mitchell's alleged "pleb" rant at Downing Street police officers still rather too fresh in everyone's minds, and police reforms, budget cuts and pay cuts exercising officers up and down the country, maybe it was no surprise that David Cameron steered clear of mentioning this particular group of public servants. A poster outside the conference centre said: "Say hello to Dave, wave goodbye to your police service." 2. An EU referendum. There was no mention either of a referendum on Europe, which had been clearly signalled by the prime minister in a round of interviews this week. But Cameron knows it's not just about holding a vote, but what question you are actually asking. 3. The Lib Dems.

London 2012 has had more than a few mentions during party conference season, but who gets the gold for glory grabbing? Share 0 inShare0 Email Mo Farah got several name-checks at the party conferences. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian David Cameron Glory-snatching rating: 6/10 What he said: I was trying to think of my favourite moment. Was it telling President Hollande that, no, we hadn't cheated at the cycling, we didn't have rounder wheels, it was just that we pedalled faster than the French? No … for me it was seeing that young woman who swam her heart out for years … nine training sessions a week, two hours a time. My best moment was putting that gold medal around the neck of Ellie Simmonds. And I am so grateful for what all those Paralympians did. When I used to push my son Ivan around in his wheelchair, I always thought that some people saw the wheelchair, not the boy. Today more people would see the boy and not the wheelchair – and that's because of w

David and Samantha's Boden catalogue look has been replaced by a more severe style Share 0 inShare0 Email David and Samantha Cameron after his speech at the Tory conference. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images Austerity begins at home. This is the message from the Cameron wardrobe. Even allowing for the rise of minimalism in fashion over the past few years, the shift in sartorial tone from the Camerons is noticeable. Funny to think that once upon a time, the easy Cameron joke was that the couple looked as if they had walked out of a Boden catalogue, all breezy open-necked shirts (him) and jaunty colour blocking (her). The look now is much more severe. David Cameron wore an almost identical outfit to last year – down to the purple tie, which now appears to be regulation issue across the political spectrum – but his shirt collar looked tighter and brighter white, his hair flatter and more solid. This was a starch-and-Brylcreem riposte to those back-of-an-envelope-gover

The Prime Minister's rhetoric needs the backing of healthy public services and measures such as Manchester's new £7.15 minimum wage, argues Dan Silver Share 103 inShare1 Email Reaching out in his speech. But how many people is the Prime Minister missing? Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian A central message that the Prime Minister wished to communicate in his speech to the Conservative party conference was that 'Britain is on the rise.' To guarantee this success, David Cameron highlighted the need to create an 'aspiration nation.' To achieve that, he declared war on the great evils of 'unfairness and injustice' with the aim of addressing poverty and stimulating economic recovery. The 'aspiration nation' is to be built upon 'hard work, strong families and taking responsibility.' However, thanks to the divisive manner in which current government policy is being designed and implemented, these statements look more like

I've never been persuaded that steadily lowering the voting age has done much, either for politics or for young people Share 8 inShare0 Email 'The evidence is that teenagers have little experience on which to base exercise of their civic duty.' Photograph: Jon Super/AP As the conference season ends and real life resumes for the political class, I see that votes at 16 are back on the agenda because David Cameron is reported to have conceded Alex Salmond's demand that Scottish 16- and 17-year-olds should get their say on Scotland's future in the promised independence referendum of 2014. I assume the first minister has concluded he will benefit because young people are always keener than their boring elders to try something new and exciting – sky-diving, veganism, crack cocaine. I hope Cameron has made a similar study, it would be careless if he hadn't, because the evidence is mixed. The SNP has a lot of young support, but some polls I've seen sugge