15/12/2006

Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I think I can leave out the special dispensation for the lord here!

It is a delight to be speaking to such an illustrious group as the mid Worcestershire patron's club after a delicious lunch.

It is an especial delight as we enter the festive overeating season, to be avoiding turkey and Christmas pudding for a change.

In this season of goodwill I thought I would talk a little bit about some of the reasons why Conservatives in this part of the world might have good reason for a little Christmas cheer.

It is all too easy in the darkening days of Labour government to look at he doom and gloom and to emphasise the mess that Labour are making of the country. Some politicians even like to talk about decades of doom. My father came up with that one the year my older brother was born.

There is plenty of doom and gloom about - a crumbling health service, declining standards in education and law and order, unchecked immigration and rising taxes.

However I like to take a more optimistic approach, to look at the positives and not just the negatives that beset us.

From my first four months on the stump I have found many.

On the doorsteps we are getting a better than ever response, with Conservatives welcoming us warmly, labour voters giving us serious thought and even liberals waivering towards us.

I have been trying out the party's new strategy of love-bombing the liberals and you know what? It works

They are so surprised not to be attacked that they temporarily forget that they are supposed to hate Tories and they actually listen to what we are saying.

Instead of rubbishing their plans for a local income tax, we recognise the problems of council tax, we point out that the blame lies with the government (it always does) and then we point out that if they want to do anything about it they need to vote conservative.

Some of them have even promised to do so.

I also see reasons to be cheerful when I look at my opponent in Worcester. Mike Foster is not just running out of steam, he is sounding increasingly desperate as he does so.

When I was selected he had the charm to announce that "Walker is a Tory toff" and to suggest that I knew nothing about Worcester. Coming from the man who puts on his website that he supports Birmingham City and Warwickshire County Cricket Club he is a fine one to talk.

But seriously, people in Worcester seem fed up with the chippy Mr Foster, they realise it is time for a change and I think we have a better chance than ever to make that change.

Amidst the mess that the government is busily making out of our education system I see some reasons to be cheerful.

After years of hurtling down the road to centralisation the government has realised the error of its ways and now with trust schools and de-centralisation they are implementing some of the policies that Conservatives were advocating long ago.

On Trident as with trust schools the Labour government is going to have to rely on Conservative support to get their laws through, an uncomfortable position for Messrs Blair and Brown but one which is not bad for the country.

But I also see reasons to be cheerful when I look at the state of the government itself - cheerful for our party if not for the country.

For here is a government that has really lost its way. They are churning out the same old announcements again and again in order to create the image of activity but they are doing less and less, using more and more of the country's money.

While the ministers wait to see when and how the prince in waiting will be crowned they are losing their reputation for economic competence, losing the public's trust on public services and losing the patience of the British electorate.

Plenty of reasons to be cheerful there.

This week we had his pre-budget review in which he raised taxes, increased borrowing and forgot to mention the health service. It was billed as Brown's green budget but the only reasons it deserved the title green was the colour it left the business community and the recycling that was going on. Recycling of policies that is.

Even Gordon Brown's imminent rise to the leadership is a reason to be cheerful from a purely electoral standpoint.

But most of all I see reasons to be cheerful when I look at our party.

We have a leader who is young and dynamic. Whatever people will say about his policies or lack thereof he is clearly making an impression in the country.

Our party's initiatives are making real progress in parliament with laws such as the climate change bill and tax exemptions for troops on operation being pushed by the conservatives and backed by the government.

Our party has made real electoral progress across Southern England and is taking the right steps to make sure it can do so in the North and in Wales.

The policy review is underway and the work it is doing is exciting. Earlier this year I attended a dinner with Oliver Letwin and twenty top Chief Executives, although many started the evening sceptical, none left without the understanding that conservative policy is being developed, is being properly thought through and its in the hands of someone with the nous and the dedication to deliver.

Our party is appealing to young people in a way that it hasn't done in a generation.

Last week I launched the Conservative Future group for Worcester and in the space of an evening I trebled the number of our campaigners under 30. Two months ago I spoke to Warwick University CF and heard that 200 people had signed up at their freshers fair. Only 80 signed up for Labour.

Around the country ours is the party that is attracting more young people than any other and, we must not forget, these young people are the future of this country.

Speaking as a relative stripling myself I see reasons to be cheerful when I look at the wealth of talent and experience I can call on in Worcester and in Worcestershire more widely.

I see a lot of reasons to be cheerful in my fellow candidates who are running across Worcestershire. Mark and Karen are building on work they started before the last election and Harriett has made an immediate impression.

I have had the support of councillors on the city and the county councils and the wise counsel of Peter Luff as a neighbouring M.P. not to mention the odd word of wisdom from a character with even more experience as an M.P. in Worcestershire.

I see reasons to be cheerful looking around this room and seeing the people who do so much to keep our party strong. The role of patrons is vital to the success of the party and Peter's 13,000 majority owes a great deal to everyone in this room.

13,000 is a majority to be jealous of and the wisdom and knowledge in this room is certainly something to be jealous of but, like any good conservative, when I see success, I believe the answer is not jealousy but emulation.

By working together with Mid Worcestershire and with others in the county I will strive to build my own patron's group, strengthen my campaigning organisation and start building up to my own 13,000 majority.

Now that would be something to cheer about.

I am not going to let all this cheer get in the way of another Tory virtue - honest hard work.

I do not fool myself that it is going to be easy to win in Worcester. I will simply be out campaigning every week to make sure that we do.

I do not fool myself that overnight we are going to find thousands of members but I am finding the numbers increase as we canvass for them.

I do not fool myself that everything is going to go right. I will simply be striving with all my might to make sure that it does.

In this season of good cheer I see plenty of reasons for us all to be cheerful and to keep up the good work.