Read David Cameron's speech notes

David Cameron’s unscripted speech may have been presented as a high-stakes strategy, but the Tory leader shortened his odds on success with reassuring right-wing references that drew rousing responses.

There was mention of Margaret Thatcher, the “one-nation party” and a referendum on the EU reform treaty. There were tax cuts, the countryside and law and order. But all came presented in the measured tones of the moderniser.

Making reference to the difficulties of internal division often associated with the Tories, he said: “There’s been quite a lot of talk of lurching and I can tell you we are not going to be lurching to the left, we are not going to be lurching to the right, we are just going to provide the good solid leadership that this country needs.”

Mr Cameron went on: “Hope for our country, we need change for the long-term, hope for our country and optimism for the next generation. That is what this week has been about – that is what I am about.”

Mr Cameron said that his favourite conference was not two years ago but 20 years ago, when a succession of democratically elected leaders from Eastern Bloc countries had praised Margaret Thatcher and the Tory party for the inspiration they had given them on the “long march to freedom”.

“I felt proud that day – proud of our values, proud of our party, proud of the part we played in helping them forge the movement that brought freedom across our continent,” he said.

“But the triumphs of the past aren’t enough. Every generation of Conservatives has to make the argument all over again for free enterprise, freedom, responsibility and limited government.” In the speech, underlined as “off-the-cuff”, Mr Cameron intended to distinguish himself from Gordon Brown, who was accused last week of borrowing phrases from Bob Shrum, a US speechwriter and recent arrival in the Brown camp.

It emerged that Mr Cameron first got the idea of delivering his speech without notes from Ann Widdecombe. Not yet even selected as a candidate, Mr Cameron saw how the then Shadow Health Secretary won over activists by delivering her speech striding around the stage in Bournemouth in 1998.

Always a keen student of effective communication, he stored away the trick for future use (another is not to use the lavatory before a speech – he once told a colleague that it helped to sharpen his performance).

The decision to memorise his address had three main purposes: it was intended to help him to project clarity, spontaneity and authenticity. It is the argument, not the words, that he knows by heart, senior aides said. “It might be a bit messy but it will be me,” he said at the start of his speech.

It was mapped out with Steve Hilton, his chief strategist and George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor and the Tories’ election co-ordinator.

Although the themes and arguments were carefully planned, Mr Cameron’s aides said that he hoped to vary the emphasis he gave to each according to the flow of the speech and the reaction of the audience.

The speech drew high praise from Tory activists and Shadow Cabinet colleagues, with George Osborne describing it as an “incredible” finale to the conference. However, others suggested that it was unlikely that Mr Cameron would enjoy a substantial “Black-pool bounce” in the polls.

Ben Page, director of the polling organisation Ipsos Mori, said that Mr Cameron had made the “right noises” for the party faithful, but nothing that would make Gordon Brown “tremble in his boots”.

John Sauven, of Greenpeace UK, questioned the lack of policy detail on the environment. “David Cameron failed to give us any real substance on how he would deliver his environmental vision,” he said.

“The Tories won’t be seen as the party of ‘sensible green leadership’ until we see his rhetoric reflected in radical manifesto pledges during the next election.” The attempts of Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, to discredit the Conservatives’ tax plans were sharply undermined yesterday by his own top civil servant (writes Gabriel Rozen-berg, Economics Reporter).

Nicholas Macpherson, the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury, admitted that his department’s costing of the Conservatives’ plans for a levy on nondomiciled taxpayers were based on incomplete data. Mr Darling had cited analysis by the Treasury which allegedly proved that the Conservatives could not raise £3.5 billion with their plans. He said the tax would only raise £650 million.

But the detailed analysis, released yesterday by the the Treasury, revealed that this was based purely on a mathematical assumption, as the Government had no information on how much Britain’s nondomiciled taxpayers earn overseas, a figure crucial to the calculations. In a letter to George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, Mr Macpherson said that the assumptions used had been “clearly flagged” to his boss. Mr Osborne has called on Mr Darling to apologise.

The row began on Monday after Mr Osborne set out plans to slash inheritance tax and stamp duty by imposing a new tax on so-called nondoms, who currently pay no tax on their overseas earnings. Both the number of nondoms and the size of their overseas earnings are largely unknown.

Official figures show that there are 114,000 such people in Britain, although the Conservatives claim the number is higher.

How much they earn is even less clear. In April, Ed Balls, then Treasury Minister, told the Commons that the Government did not routinely collect any such information. But within a few hours of the speech, Alistair Darling said: “Treasury analysis shows it is impossible for him to raise the money he needs to pay for this commitment from his proposals on residence and domicile.”

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