David Cameron has condemned new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of ‘hating’ Britain and as ‘terrorist-sympathising’ in his speech at the Conservative party conference in Manchester.
The prime minister also pledged to spend the rest of his tenure combatting the country’s foremost social problems such as poverty, discrimination, extremism and a lack of opportunity.
Mr Corbyn faced criticism over remarks made after the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, citing that it was a ‘tragedy’ that he had been assassinated rather than put on trial.
The incumbent prime minister used this example as a warning about the threat his opposition rival poses to the country if elected as leader.
He said: “Thousands of words have been written about the new Labour leader. But you only really need to know one thing: he thinks the death of Osama bin Laden was a ‘tragedy’.
“No. A tragedy is nearly 3,000 people murdered one morning in New York. A tragedy is the mums and dads who never came home from work that day.
“A tragedy is people jumping from the towers after the planes hit.
“My friends, we cannot let that man inflict his security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love.”
The prime minister confirmed that he will step down by the election in 2020 but added that he wanted his time in power to be the ‘turnaround decade’ in solving economic and deep-rooted social issues.
He used an example of a black Briton who had to change her name to Elizabeth to get a secure a job interview, promising to end discrimination as the ‘party of the fair chance’.
“You can’t have true opportunity without real equality,” said Cameron. “And I want our party to get this right.
“Yes us, the party of the fair chance, the party of the equal shot, the party that doesn’t care where you come from, but only where you’re going.
“Us, the Conservatives, I want us to end discrimination and finish the fight for real equality in our country today.
He added that he hoped the country would become a Greater Britain and a ‘global success story of the 21st century’.
He said: “Over the next five years we will show that the deep problems in our society – they are not inevitable. That a childhood in care doesn’t have to mean a life of struggle.
“That a stint in prison doesn’t mean you’ll get out and do the same thing all over again. That being black, or Asian, or female, or gay doesn’t mean you’ll be treated differently. Nothing is written.
“And if we’re to be the global success story of the 21st century we need to write millions of individual success stories.
“A Greater Britain made of greater expectations, where renters become homeowneres, employees become employers, a small island becomes an even bigger economy, and where extremism is defeated once and for all.”
Image courtesy of Guillaume Paumier, with thanks.
