'I say this to you: never again can we take the people of Britain for granted'

Between now and the next general election we have to persuade millions of people up and down the country that this Conservative Party is fit for Government. That this Conservative Party is fit to govern this great country of ours.

People say that we as politicians do not live in the real world. We spend more time lecturing than we do listening but most of all we make promises we know we cannot keep. This is the sound of a people tired of politics and crying out for change.

A generation ago, the Conservative Party took tough and often unpopular decisions. We laid the foundations for the prosperity that many enjoy today and now we face a new generation of challenges.

We must first 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. Our great achievement during the 1980s was to give the people the power to fulfil their own economic ambitions. We made people financially better off but money isn't everything and, in other ways, the quality of their lives declined.

The challenges changed but we did not change to meet those challenges.

All of us here want to remember the good things we did and there were many – but beyond this hall people too often remember the hurt we caused and the anger they felt.

Well I say this to you: never Again. Never again can we take the people of Britain for granted. Until people see that our party has learnt the lessons of 1997, we will go on getting the result of 1997.

The party that I lead will live in the present and prepare for the future.

So to those who want to re-fight the battles of the past, and to those who want to live in the past, I simply say this: you stay in the past; we are moving on.

I've worked with British people from every part of these islands and from every kind of background , first in the Army and then in private business. I've known danger and I've tasted disappointment. I was made redundant in the tough times of the last recession and I had to start everything all over again.

Try being told you've just lost your job. Try telling people they've just lost theirs. I've been through both and it puts the world of politics completely into perspective.

So when I was told I had no future in Parliament because of my determination to keep Britain's independence as a nation state and because of my determination to keep the pound, I did not waver.

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 am not here to waste my time or yours going through the motions of opposition for the next three years. I am here because I believe that decent people can make a difference.

This will be remembered as the week when the Conservatives began the slow, hard road back to power. So the next time you are asked what Conservatives stand for these days, tell them this from me:

Tell them we believe that when people are given the power to choose they choose to do the best for themselves and their families. We believe that just because the state funds our public services it doesn't need to run our public services. We believe that the privileges of the few must be turned into the opportunities for the many.

Above all, we believe that to build a better society you must trust people. Not governments.

I love my country. For me, this is the greatest country on Earth, and the tolerance, the decency and the strength of the British people are well worth fighting for.

That is why I am here. That is why we are all here. To build a Britain that respects decency, a Britain that values compassion, a Britain worthy of all its people.

This week, we have rediscovered the courage of our convictions. So go out there and tell the world: the Conservatives are back.