As Labour fails to deliver on public services, despite the record amounts of investment, the Tories will offer non-state means of developing “world class” education and health services. “An education system in which no child is left behind, a health service in which no patient is left waiting, reversing the conveyor belt that draws young people into crime, an end to insecurity in old age, a society in which every person has a worthwhile part to play,” he says.As with this week’s conference, no opportunity has been missed to use young women and people from ethnic minorities to underscore the new inclusive image. A twentysomething, Iona Tucker, features on the frontispiece with the quote “I’d like to know what the Conservatives think they could do. Yeah, that would be interesting.”"Leadership with a Purpose” doesn’t fall into some of the traps of William Hague’s own mini-manifesto, “Believing in Britain”. That document included the much-ridiculed, and later ditched, plans to cut public spending over a Parliament regardless of the economic cycle.But although it doesn’t contain any howlers, and in some areas proposes policies that Labour would like to steal, Mr Duncan Smith still faces the charge that many proposals are either too unspecific or open to the damaging Labour charge of “privatisation”.Promising to scrap AS-levels in the wake of the regrading crisis sounds attractive, although the party is silent on whether a baccalaureate should replace A-levels.

Similarly, extending the right to buy to 1.3 million housing association tenants and using the proceeds to build new homes could be popular, although there are reservations about where they would be built.The two most radical proposals, creating state scholarships for independent schools and giving a Government top-up to those opting out of the NHS, are brave if risky.The document is not meant to be a full manifesto, more a “direction of travel”, as Mr Duncan Smith calls it. Nevertheless, one of its biggest flaws is its silence on the economy, particularly on the thorny question of public spending and taxation.For most Tories, the sense of relief at seeing some detailed policies was palpable this week. Iain Duncan Smith described himself as the “quiet man” of British politics yesterday when he promised to confound his critics and lead the Tories back from the political wilderness. He said: “Those who do not know me yet, will come to understand this: when I say a thing, I mean it When I set myself a task, I do it When I settle on a course, I stick to it Do not underestimate the determination of a quiet man. I will continue to do what I believe to be right.”He said he had known “danger”– a reference to his Army service in Northern Ireland –and the “disappointment” of being made redundant. He recalled he “did not waver” when he was warned by senior Tories he had “no future” in Parliament during the backbench rebellion against the Maastricht Treaty.He won a warm six-minute standing ovation after issuing a blunt warning that the Tories must change to survive. “We must understand the way life in Britain is lived today, and not the way it was lived 20 years ago.

Yes, it is right to be proud of the past, but it is wrong to try and live in the past This country has moved on and so must we,” he said. “The challenges changed but we did not change to meet those challenges.”In a swipe at John Major, who led the Tories to defeat in 1997, he said people “too often remember the hurt we caused and the anger they felt”. He added: “Never again can we take the people of Britain for granted. Until people see our party has learnt the lessons of 1997, we will go on getting the same result of 1997.

The party I lead will live in the present and prepare for the future.”Insisting the Tories were back, he promised the party would “trust the people” to choose their schools and hospitals, look after their families and run their businesses.. Britain will propose the creation of a powerful new post of President of Europe today as the Government outlines its goals for a new governing treaty for the European Union. “Downing Street is taking a very close interest in this proposal,” said a government source.The appointment of a figurehead to represent the EU on the world stage, originally floated by France, is gaining support across Europe and is likely to be included in the new treaty, to be agreed in two years’ time.Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, declares the Government’s backing for the post in an article in The Economist magazine. He argues that a full-time president would be better than the current system of “musical chairs” under which one country holds the rotating chairmanship of the EU for six months. “This stop-go comes at the expense of consistency and efficiency,” he argues.Mr Straw says the president should be chosen by the EU’s 15 heads of government and be accountable to them. “He or she would serve for several years, overseeing delivery of the Union’s strategic agenda and communicating a sense of purpose to Europe’s citizens,” he says.In his article, Mr Straw discloses that Britain will support bringing foreign and home affairs under the new EU treaty – a move that will be attacked by the Tories as a step towards a European superstate.. Top-performing councils are to be given extra powers under plans that are likely to spark accusations that a two-tier system of local government is being created.