Dave-id Cameron: Into the Conference Hall Naked

The main pre-speech spin at Blackpool is that Dave-id will be performing with no safety net, no harness, absolutely no notes. Ooo-er. He is going into the Conference Room naked with his Emperor's New Clothes of a policy platform there for all to see. So very thin and fine that it is transparent.

There you go. Caroline Spelman, Steve Hilton and Andy Coulson believe that "No Notes" is a better recommendation than "No Policies" and so that is how they are briefing. Very brave.

Meanwhile , did I tell you how many marks out of five Channel 4 Factcheck gave Osborne's package for Veracity? 60% of the way to absolutely made up says the verdict. This is hot on the heels of 90% tosh for their continual spin on tax generally.

And naturally they still cannot make their minds up whether Gordon Brown's moves on troop numbers are (a) so trivial as to not warrant any news whatsoever or (b) so important that they needed the recall of parliament.

Truth is the draw down has been announced in parliament. It is ongoing. And it neither needed the hype it got - largely thanks to the Tories calling Gordon's first visit to Iraq as PM a stunt - nor any kind of reference to Parliament.

But not to worry: "Cameron Speaks Without Notes" scream the headlines. "No policies either" say the standfirsts.
Graphic is from The Times, December 2005. Cameron's "inner circles" as they were seen then.