Conservative conference 2017: Boris Johnson urges Tories to 'let the lion roar' in upbeat speech

Rolling coverage of the Conservative party conference in Manchester, including Theresa May's morning interview round and Boris Johnson's conference speech. Theresa May's morning interviews - Summary and analysis.

 Boris Johnson delivers his speech at the Conservative party conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Boris Johnson's speech - Snap verdict

Boris Johnson arrived at the Tory conference with many of his colleagues, in private and in public, expressing anger at his freelance Brexit policy-making activities. He was urged to accept collective responsibility, or to resign. He has made his choice, and the main message from today’s speech was one of loyalty. He said said that he and the rest of the cabinet were fully behind Theresa May’s Florence speech (see 3.44pm)and he even found something to praise in her election record (no easy task). See 3.43pm.

But, as a display of deference, it was minimal - about as little as Johnson could plausibly get away with.

And, although Johnson may have chosen not to deliver a full-throated potential leader’s speech, he did not make much effort to disguise the fact that he offers an alternative agenda. He mostly ignored foreign affairs, and devoted much of his speech to the kind of attack on Labour’s economic policies that May failed to mount at the general election. He said the party had to make the market economy work better (May thinks the same, but has not said how), and he praised low-tax economies, including those with flat taxes *(which are popular on the Tory right). It may be the first speech this conference to reference tax cutting.

Above all, it was funny, and optimistic. After two days of mostly second-rate speeches in the conference hall, the members needed cheering up. Johnson reminded them that he can do that better than anyone.

And yet ... it was also an extraordinarily shallow speech, even by Johnson’s standards. Johnson defended market economics without trying very hard to explain he thinks it is a beneficial system, but on Brexit, and almost everything else, he seemed to be saying that optimism and good will would be enough. If you give a speech saying that global warming will be solved, or Islamic State defeated (see 4pm), or that Brexit will be a success, you are really under an obligation to say how. Johnson didn’t. Instead all he seemed to offer was wishful thinking.

Source: The Guardian News.