The modern Conservative Party IS the party to fix our broken society

So the party conference season is over. What have we learned?

The Liberal Democrats, as always, tried to be all things to all men. They put forward policies that were well to the left of Labour and more right wing thananything put forward at the Tory conference. Still they did receive a lot of publicity which saw their poll rating rise temporarily. Not so Labour.

The Labour Conference was deemed a success by its members because they avoided a rerun of last year's squabbles about whether or not they should replace Gordon Brown as leader. Luckily for us it looks as if he will survive and lead Labour into the next General Election. The strangest thing about Labour's conference is that for the first time that I can remember there was no post conference bounce in the polls. I wonder if that is more signficant than Gordon Brown's survival?

The Tory Conference was a very low key affair, with little excitement, but some thoughtful and businesslike sessions - you couldn't exactly call them debates. The consensus amongst commentators was that this was a political party preparing for government.

There were three highlights for me: the clear commitment to retain the Sure Start programme, the reffirmation that we will link the basic state pension to earnings, and David Cameron's speech, which set out clearly what the modern Conservative Party stands for.

And within David's speech one paragraph was so powerful it brought tears to my eyes, because it emphasised everything that is wrong with the current government. David said:

"Labour still have the arrogance to think that they are the ones who will fight poverty and deprivation. On Monday, when we announced our plan to Get Britain Working you know what Labour called it? “Callous.” Excuse me? Who made the poorest poorer? Who left youth unemployment higher? Who made inequality greater? No, not the wicked Tories… you, Labour: you’re the ones that did this to our society. So don’t you dare lecture us about poverty. You have failed and it falls to us, the modern Conservative Party to fight for the poorest who you have let down."

If we are elected next May one of the biggest challenges we face is fxing Britain's broken society. We can do that with the type of One Nation compassionate conservatism that ran through this week's conference...

George Osborne's pledge to protect low income workers from a public sector pay squeeze. Michael Gove's commitment to put the worst failing schools under new management within 100 days of a Tory government coming to power. Reaffirmation that the pensions-earning link will be restored.

And in his announcement that Iain Duncan Smith "will be responsible in government for bringing together all our work to help mend the broken society" David Cameron was promoting a man who sees his whole purpose in politics as building a pro-poor agenda.

How the political world has changed over the past decade. It is now the Conservatives who are the party of the NHS, it is the Conservatives who are setting the agenda for social justice and it is the Conservatives who are determined to tackle poverty, both at home and abroad.

I am proud to be a member of the modern Conservative Party!