David Cameron has lambasted Jeremy Corbyn as a “security threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating” ideologue in his strongest attack yet on the Labour leader, which was designed to show that he is wholly unsuitable to lead Britain.

In a move to sharpen divisions with Corbyn, the prime minister pledged to replace Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine fleet and to lead a new campaign against “passive tolerance” of extremism by closing down madrasas and other faith schools that teach intolerance. “Be in no doubt: if you are teaching intolerance, we will shut you down,” he said.

Cameron’s speech to the Conservative conference in Manchester on Wednesday was designed to show his determination to occupy the centre ground in the wake of Corbyn’s emphatic victory in the Labour leadership contest by setting out an optimistic framework. He pledged to launch an all-out assault on the “scourge of poverty” and to turn the Tories into the party of the “equal shot” by eradicating all forms of discrimination.

But the prime minister ended a debate in Tory circles about whether to treat Corbyn with kid gloves by saying he could not be trusted with Britain’s security. Cameron illustrated this point by highlighting the reported remarks by the Labour leader that the death of Osama bin Laden had been a tragedy.

“A tragedy is nearly 3,000 people murdered one morning in New York,” he said. “A tragedy is the mums and dads who never came home from work that day. A tragedy is people jumping from the towers after the planes hit. My friends – we cannot let that man inflict his security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology on the country we love.”

Cameron, who has spoken in the past of his pain as he waited to speak to his wife Samantha from New York on 9/11, finally decided to highlight Corbyn’s remarks about Bin Laden during his recent visit to the city. Aides said that fellow leaders repeatedly asked the prime minister on the fringes of the UN general assembly whether it was true that Corbyn had suggested that the death of the al-Qaida leader had been a tragedy.

The prime minister made clear that the fight against extremism would be one of the defining features of his second term in office when he pledged to close down madrasas that teach intolerance.

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He said: “Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with children learning about their faith, whether it’s at madrasas, Sunday schools or Jewish yeshivas. But in some madrasas we’ve got children being taught that they shouldn’t mix with people of other religions; being beaten; swallowing conspiracy theories about Jewish people. These children should be having their minds opened, their horizons broadened, not having their heads filled with poison and their hearts filled with hate.”

The prime minister said the teaching of intolerance has been permitted by a culture of “passive tolerance”. He said: “For too long, we’ve been so frightened of causing offence that we haven’t looked hard enough at what is going on in our communities. This is passive tolerance. And I’ll tell you where it leads: to children, British children, going to Pakistan in the summer holidays, before they’ve even started their GCSEs, and forced to marry a man they’ve never met; children, British children, having their genitals mutilated, not just in a clinic in Lagos but the backstreets in Britain.

“This passive tolerance has turned us into a less integrated country; it’s put our children in danger. It is unforgiveable. So let me say it right here: no more passive tolerance in Britain.”

Under his plans, the government is to consult on introducing inspections of up to 5,000 “supplementary schools” of any faith – 2,000 madrasas, Sunday church schools and Jewish yeshivas – which provide teaching for more than eight hours a week. The schools would be properly registered with the Department for Education and inspected.

The prime minister said: “If an institution is teaching children intensively, then whatever its religion, we will, like any other school, make it register so it can be inspected. And be in no doubt: if you are teaching intolerance, we will shut you down.”

Cameron’s aides have positioned his conference speech as a pillar of the optimistic narrative put forward by the Conservatives in the wake of Corbyn’s election as they strive to emphasise the need for “social reform”. He made no mention of George Osborne’s controversial plans to cut tax credits, which will mean a loss of £1,000 for 3 million of the lowest paid workers. But he said he would seek to tackle the “scourge of poverty”, which is best achieved by helping people back into work where the new “national living wage” will mark a “giant leap forward”.

“You can’t have true opportunity without real equality,” the prime minister said, citing examples of black and ethnic minority Britons denied opportunities. “And I want our party to get this right. Yes us, the party of the fair chance; the party of the equal shot, the party that doesn’t care where you come from, but only where you’re going. Us, the Conservatives, I want us to end discrimination and finish the fight for real equality in our country today.”

The prime minister said: “Do you know that in our country today, even if they have exactly the same qualifications, people with white-sounding names are nearly twice as likely to get call-backs for jobs than people with ethnic-sounding names? This is a true story.

“One young black girl had to change her name to Elizabeth before she got any calls to interviews. That, in 21st century Britain, is disgraceful. We can talk all we want about opportunity, but it’s meaningless unless people are really judged equally.”

Cameron, who knows he has been defined largely by his privileged background, said he recognised that the reality that someone’s salary depended on what their father’s was was more prevalent in the UK than in any other country in the developed world. “I’m sorry, but for us Conservatives, the party of aspiration, we cannot accept that.”

Cameron spoke of “a country raising its sights, its people reaching new heights, a great British take-off that leaves no one behind. That’s our dream – to help you realise your dreams.” He hailed campaigners for gay rights and suffragettes, saying:“Freedom. Democracy. Equality. These are precious. People fought for them – many died for them in the trenches a century ago; on the beaches, 30 years later; in the suffragettes, in gay pride.

“Half the world is crying out for these freedoms – they see what we’ve achieved with them.”

In one of his more relaxed speeches, Cameron lampooned Lord Ashcroft for his book and Richard Murphy, the father of Corbynomics. Cameron recalled Boris Johnson’s speech in which the London mayor joked about how he had played a tighthead prop in rugby whose job was to bind onto the hooker in the scrum. Cameron said: “Boris, the tighthead prop. I was a hooker. And by the way that is a factual statement, not a chapter of Michael Ashcroft’s book.”

On Murphy, Cameron said: “He’s written a book. It’s called “The Joy of Tax”. I’ve got it. I took it home to show Samantha. It’s got 64 positions and none of them work.”

Cameron said he would stand up for the British values of “freedom, democracy and equality”, telling activists that he wanted to see “less Britain-bashing, more national pride”.



The prime minister confirmed his plan to step down by the election scheduled for 2020, and said he wanted his time in power to be seen as a “turnaround decade” when the UK not only sorted out its economy but dealt with entrenched social problems. He said the Tories should be proud of their journey as a “modern, compassionate, one-nation Conservative party”, as he listed the women, children of immigrants and working-class MPs who sit in the cabinet and on the party’s benches in Westminster.