[00:00.00]Mr Chairman,
[00:01.79]ladies and gentlemen,
[00:03.26]most of my cabinet colleagues
[00:06.44]have started of their speeches of reply
[00:09.82]by paying very well deserved tributes
[00:13.32]to their junior ministers.
[00:16.10]At Number 10,
[00:17.52]I have no junior ministers.
[00:21.16]There is just Denis and me,
[00:24.32]but I could not do without him.
[00:34.22]I am, however,
[00:35.74]very fortunate in having
[00:37.96]a marvellous deputy
[00:40.34]who is wonderful
[00:41.40]in all places
[00:42.62]at all times
[00:43.94]in all things
[00:45.10]Willie Whitelaw.
[00:53.55]At our party conference last year
[00:57.15]I said that the task
[00:59.07]on which the government was engaged
[01:01.54]to change the national attitude of mind,
[01:05.45]was the most challenging
[01:07.17]to face any British administration
[01:09.59]since the war.
[01:11.62]Challenge is exhilarating.
[01:14.91]This week we Conservatives
[01:16.91]have been taking stock,
[01:18.68]discussing the achievements,
[01:20.63]the setbacks and the work
[01:22.24]that lies ahead
[01:23.76]as we enter our second parliamentary year.
[01:28.17]As you said,
[01:28.83]Mr. Chairman,
[01:30.20]our debates have been stimulating
[01:31.89]and our criticism have been constructive.
[01:35.25]This week has demonstrated
[01:37.54]that we are a party united
[01:40.58]in purpose, strategy and resolve.
[01:53.27]And we actually like one another.
[02:03.23]When I am asked for a detailed forecast
[02:06.54]of what will happen
[02:07.61]in the coming months or years,
[02:10.64]I remember Sam Goldwyn's advice:
[02:13.68]Never prophesy,
[02:15.66]especially about the future.
[02:20.31](Interruption from the floor)
[02:21.92]Never mind,
[02:25.78]it is wet outside.
[02:26.38]I expect that they wanted to come in.
[02:38.66]You cannot blame them;
[02:40.59]it is always better where the Tories are.
[02:55.92]And you,
[02:57.38]and perhaps they,
[02:58.51]will be looking to me this afternoon
[03:00.74]for an indication of how the government
[03:03.27]sees the task before us
[03:05.36]and why we are tackling it
[03:06.52]the way we are.
[03:08.54]Before I begin,
[03:09.61]let me get one point out of the way.
[03:12.54]This week at Brighton
[03:13.91]we have heard a good deal
[03:15.24]about last week at Blackpool.
[03:17.81]I will have a little more to say
[03:19.54]about that strange assembly later,
[03:22.84]but for the moment I want to say just this.
[03:25.99]Because of what happened at that conference,
[03:29.39]there has been,
[03:30.75]behind all our deliberations this week,
[03:34.19]a heightened awareness that now,
[03:37.99]more than ever,
[03:38.94]our Conservative government must succeed.
[03:42.88]We just must,
[03:56.53]because there is even more at stake
[03:59.47]than some had realized.
[04:01.55]There are many things to be done
[04:03.21]to set this nation on the road to recovery,
[04:06.41]and I do not mean economic recovery alone,
[04:10.42]but a new independence of spirit
[04:13.61]and zest for achievement.
[04:16.59]It is sometimes said
[04:18.26]that because of our past,
[04:20.29]we, as a people,
[04:22.00]expect too much
[04:22.77]and set our sights too high.
[04:25.01]Mr. Chairman
[04:26.02]that is not the way I see it.
[04:28.05]Rather it seems to me
[04:29.89]that throughout my life in politics
[04:32.32]our ambitions have steadily shrunk.
[04:35.61]Our response to disappointment
[04:37.67]has not been to lengthen our stride
[04:41.77]but to shorten the distance to be covered.
[04:44.25]But with confidence in ourselves
[04:46.58]and in our future,
[04:48.41]what a nation we could be!
[04:59.05]In its first 17 months,
[05:01.07]this government
[05:01.73]has laid the foundations for recovery.
[05:05.01]We have undertaken
[05:05.97]a heavy load of legislation,
[05:07.70]a load we do not intend to repeat
[05:10.44]because we do not share
[05:12.52]the socialist fantasy
[05:14.02]that achievement is measured
[05:15.54]by the number of laws you pass.
[05:23.17]But there was a formidable barricade
[05:25.51]of obstacles that we had to sweep aside.
[05:28.54]For a start,
[05:29.90]in his first budget
[05:31.36]Geoffrey Howe began to rest incentives
[05:34.45]to stimulate the abilities
[05:36.43]and inventive genius of our people.
[05:39.27]Prosperity comes not from
[05:41.44]grand conferences of economists
[05:44.21]but by countless acts
[05:46.09]of personal self-confidence
[05:48.43]and self-reliance.
[05:51.41]Also under Geoffrey's leadership,
[05:54.39]Britain has repaid
[05:56.21]$3,600m of international debt,
[06:02.26]debt which had been run up
[06:03.83]by our predecessors.
[06:05.24]And we paid quite a lot of it
[06:06.97]before it was due.
[06:18.10]In the last 12 months
[06:20.45]Geoffrey has abolished exchange controls
[06:22.63]over which British governments
[06:24.22]have dithered for decades.
[06:26.60]Our great enterprises are now
[06:28.17]free to seek opportunities overseas
[06:35.54]We have made the first crucial changes
[06:38.07]in trade union law
[06:39.59]to remove the worst abuses
[06:41.41]of the closed shop,
[06:42.88]to restrict picketing
[06:44.30]to the place of work
[06:45.32]of the parties in dispute,
[06:46.89]and to encourage secret ballots.
[06:49.56]Jim Prior has carried all these measures
[06:52.15]through with the support
[06:53.51]of the vast majority
[06:54.93]of trade union members.
[07:07.57]British Aerospace will soon
[07:09.21]be open to private investment.
[07:11.49]The monopoly of the Post Office
[07:13.27]and British Telecommunications
[07:14.83]is being diminished.
[07:16.85]The barriers to private generation
[07:23.63]of electricity for sale have been lifted.
[07:26.48]For the first time nationalized industries
[07:29.40]and public utilities can be investigated
[07:32.44]by the monopolies commission
[07:34.21]a long overdue reform
[07:45.23]Michael Heseltine has given to millions,
[07:48.63]yes, millions of council tenants
[07:51.00]the right to buy their own homes.
[08:02.82]It was Anthony Eden
[08:03.84]who chose for us the goal
[08:05.91]of a property-owning democracy.
[08:08.45]But for all the time
[08:09.67]that I have been in public affairs,
[08:11.59]that has been beyond
[08:13.11]the reach of so many,
[08:15.33]who were denied the right
[08:16.70]to the most basic ownership of all
[08:19.53]the homes in which they live.
[08:21.30]They wanted to buy.
[08:22.82]Many of them could afford to buy.
[08:24.89]But they happened to live
[08:26.05]under the jurisdiction of a council
[08:27.31]which would not sell
[08:30.82]and did not believe in the independence
[08:32.99]that comes with ownership.
[08:40.52]Now Michael Heseltine
[08:42.44]has given them the chance
[08:43.65]to turn a dream into reality.
[08:46.84]And all this, Mr. Chairman,
[08:48.36]and a lot more in 17 months.
[08:56.14]But Mr. Chairman,
[08:57.17]all this will avail us little unless
[09:00.60]we achieve our prime economic objective
[09:03.08]the defeat of inflation.
[09:06.41]Inflation destroys nations and societies
[09:10.36]as surely as invading armies do.
[09:13.85]Inflation is the parent of unemployment.
[09:17.70]It is the unseen robber
[09:19.47]of those who have saved.
[09:21.59]No policy which puts at risk
[09:23.82]the defeat of inflation
[09:25.89]however great
[09:26.81]its short-term attraction can be right.
[09:29.09]But, Mr. Chairman,
[09:31.96]our policy for the defeat of inflation is
[09:33.85]in fact, traditional.
[09:36.78]It existed long before Sterling M3
[09:40.84]embellished the Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin
[09:45.24]or "monetarism" became a convenient term
[09:48.23]of political invective.
[09:50.04]But some people talk
[09:52.57]as if control of the money supply
[09:53.94]was a revolutionary policy.
[09:57.22]Yet it was an essential condition
[09:59.64]for the recovery of much
[10:01.36]of continental Europe.
[10:03.75]Those countries knew
[10:05.72]what was required for economic stability.
[10:08.85]Previously, they had lived
[10:10.98]through rampant inflation;
[10:13.24]they knew that it led to suitcase money,
[10:16.23]massive unemployment
[10:18.07]and did to the breakdown of society itself.
[10:21.70]They determined never to go that way again.
[10:26.23]Today,
[10:27.51]after many years of monetary self-discipline,
[10:30.90]they have stable,
[10:32.62]prosperous economies
[10:34.29]better able than ours
[10:36.37]to withstand the buffeting
[10:37.93]of world recession.
[10:39.96]So at international conferences
[10:41.92]to discuss economic affairs,
[10:44.11]many of my fellow heads of government
[10:46.79]find our policies not strange,
[10:51.03]unusual or revolutionary,
[10:53.97]but normal, sound and honest.
[10:57.61]And that is what they are.
[11:06.04]Their only question to me is this
[11:08.74]"Has Britain the courage
[11:10.77]and resolve to sustain the discipline
[11:13.44]for long enough to break through to success?"
[11:16.79]Yes, Mr Chairman,
[11:18.46]we have, and we shall.
[11:21.20]This government are determined
[11:23.16]to stay with the policy
[11:24.88]and see it through to its conclusion.
[11:36.09]That is what marks this administration
[11:39.17]as one of the truly radical ministries
[11:41.96]of postwar Britain.
[11:44.15]Inflation is falling
[11:46.27]and should continue to fall.
[11:49.06]Meanwhile, Mr. Chairman,
[11:50.79]we are not heedless
[11:52.06]of the hardships
[11:53.64]and worries for the company
[11:55.67]to conquest of inflation.
[11:58.10]Foremost among these is unemployment.
[12:01.74]Today our country has more than
[12:04.87]2 million unemployed.
[12:07.57]Now you can try to soften that figure
[12:09.95]in a dozen ways.
[12:12.06]You can point out
[12:12.93]and it is quite legitimate to do so
[12:15.51]that 2 million today does not mean
[12:17.47]what it meant in the 1930s
[12:19.75]that the percentage of unemployment
[12:21.73]is much less now than it was then.
[12:24.71]You can add that today
[12:26.27]many more married women
[12:27.56]go out to work.
[12:29.37]You can stress that,
[12:30.74]because of the high birthrate
[12:32.00]in the early 1960s,
[12:34.63]there is an unusually large number
[12:36.76]of school leavers this year
[12:38.79]looking for work
[12:40.37]and that the same will be true
[12:41.63]for the next two years.
[12:43.80]You can emphasise that
[12:45.32]about a quarter of a million people
[12:46.93]find new jobs each month
[12:49.62]and therefore go off the employment register.
[12:52.95]And you can recall that
[12:54.28]there are now
[12:55.90]nearly 25 million people in jobs
[12:59.97]compared with only about 18 million
[13:02.49]in the 1930s.
[13:04.01]You can point out that
[13:05.53]the Labour party conveniently overlooks
[13:08.01]the fact that of the 2 million unemployed
[13:10.94]for which they blame us,
[13:13.66]nearly a million and a half
[13:16.00]were bequeathed by their government.
[13:30.06]But when all that has been said,
[13:32.73]the fact remains that
[13:34.92]the level of unemployment
[13:36.65]in our country today
[13:38.61]is a human tragedy.
[13:46.61]Let me make it clear beyond doubt.
[13:49.54]I am profoundly concerned about unemployment.
[13:53.34]Human dignity
[13:55.14]and self-respect are undermined
[13:58.33]when men and women
[13:59.24]are condemned to idleness.
[14:01.62]The waste of a country's most precious assets
[14:05.21]the talent and energy of its people
[14:08.51]makes it the bounden duty of government
[14:11.64]to seek a real and lasting cure.
[14:23.52]If I could press a button
[14:24.83]and genuinely solve the unemployment problem,
[14:28.28]do you think that I would not
[14:29.60]press that button this instant?
[14:32.69]Does anyone imagine that
[14:34.01]there is the smallest political gain
[14:36.58]in letting this level of unemployment continue,
[14:40.59]or that there is some obscure economic religion
[14:43.63]which demands this level of unemployment
[14:45.76]as part of its religious ritual?
[14:49.18]Mr. Chairman,
[14:50.24]this government