Conference, I stand here ready to bury Britain’s age of decline and usher in the age of ambition. For years, politicians have offered this nation a daily diet of pessimism, demanding ever greater sacrifice from those with nothing left to give. And they have delivered on that pessimism – from stagnant growth to falling wages, from crumbling infrastructure to disintegrating public services, from our declining town centres to a mounting housing emergency.

But that ambition begins with some humility. Our nation expected change, and so far it has seen yet more politicians on the take while imposing hardship on the already struggling. It is far better to change course than double down on mistakes. Our democracy has long been corrupted by those with bottomless pockets, and let’s be candid: they’re not splashing their cash out of generosity. That ends here. If you’re a wealthy individual or private company, invest your money elsewhere, because all such donations to political parties and politicians will now be banned. No more hospitality or freebies: and yes, I will pay for my own Arsenal tickets.

Here’s another rethink. We opened the nation’s books, we talked to top economic minds, and we discovered it’s not our nation’s finances that are broken, but our economic model. Yes, conditions are tough – but did prime minister Clement Attlee survey the ruins of British cities laid to waste by the Luftwaffe, turn to the British people, and inform them, “awfully sorry, but we’re broke”? No: grave crisis became justification for more ambition,........

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