The changes I am leading in the Conservative party today have two vital characteristics: modernity and long-term thinking.

Modernity matters because if we allow ourselves to be marooned on the wrong side of social and cultural change, the result is simply irrelevance and opposition. For too long, Tony Blair and new Labour laid claim to the future while the Conservative party seemed stuck in the past. Today the position is reversed as we lead the political agenda into new areas such as the environment and wellbeing while Labour in its deputy leadership election looks back nostalgically to the preBlair era.

But we must also learn from Blair’s mistakes - and that’s where long-term thinking comes in. Before the 1997 election, new Labour failed to put in the serious policy work demanded by many of the big challenges of the day, notably public service reform. As a result, Labour wasted time, goodwill - and billions of pounds - going round in circles on issues such as education, the National Health Service and policing.

We will be different. I am determined to ensure that the modern Conservative party arrives at the next election with a serious long-term plan for government. Our policy development process is neither a shallow aping of new Labour nor an abandonment of Conservative beliefs. Instead it is driven by a distinctive aim: to bring the benefits of Conservative values to all of the people all of the time, not just some of the people some of the time.

So we will apply our traditional Conservative belief in sound money to the benefit of all, by putting economic stability before short-term tax cuts. We will replace Labour’s mismanagement of the health service with an approach rooted in Conservatism: trusting people and decentralising power. Reducing top-down direction of professionals and giving people more control over the health services they use are the priorities: improving the NHS for everyone rather than offering opt-outs for a few.

Similarly, at a time of declining social mobility and chronic educational underperformance, we will best achieve our vision of opportunity for all by applying traditional Conservative belief in high standards and firm discipline throughout the state education system, rather than going back to the 11-plus and some mythical policy of “a grammar school in every town”.

The debate can be tough. But I’m determined to see the Conservative party get to the right place on these issues. On both the economy and the NHS our position is clear. And when the dust has settled on the grammar school debate it will be equally clear that our distinctive approach - more setting in schools, head teachers’ control over discipline and a big expansion in opportunities for new schools to open - is robust.

We must ensure that Conservative values and beliefs benefit all, not just some of the people. This is the context in which I view the challenge that I, the prime minister and the chancellor will be addressing at a conference next week: the need to build a more cohesive society.

The evil terrorist campaign we have witnessed in recent years has revealed the existence of a murderous ideology which distorts Islam and plays on a range of grievances to turn a small number of young men into revolutionaries. We must be clear-sighted about the organised nature of this threat and develop an appropriate security response.

But a serious, long-term approach to this challenge cannot rest on a security response alone. We have to recognise the depth of the alienation felt by many Muslims in Britain today and reverse it. Here there are two important Conservative insights.

The first is a belief in fair play: that we should think of people as individuals rather than members of special interest groups. We instinctively reject the doctrine of multiculturalism in which people are herded into different pens, with respective grievances and rights. By concentrating on defining the various cultures that have come to call Britain home, we have forgotten to define the most important one: our own.

The second Conservative insight which can make a contribution to community cohesion is our belief in social responsibility: that people are more likely to feel part of their community if they feel real control over its future. It’s no good for the rest of us to lecture Muslims and say “you must integrate”. This is just offensive to people like Abdullah and Shahida Rehman, the couple I stayed with recently in Birmingham, who live a life of family and community solidarity of the sort that I would love to see my own children grow up in. The Rehmans do not separate themselves from the wider neighbourhood — they are actively involved through the Balsall Heath Forum, a great example of community empowerment.

I want to give everyone in our country, particularly in our great cities where immigrant communities are most concentrated, much greater control over what happens in their lives, with meaningful local participation, engagement and civic responsibility. “Power to the people” is one of the most deeply held Conservative ideas and in the weeks ahead we will start to show how we plan to extend it. I believe this will help to give immigrant communities a far greater sense of belonging — and hence loyalty to — their country.

This will be one of the most important objectives of the next Conservative government: alongside economic stability and public service reform, a clear example of how traditional Conservative beliefs can help to make this a better country for everyone.

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