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PM's speech was short on clarity but high on impact

I have never been altogether persuaded that David Cameron is good at making speeches.

Of course, he's a better speaker than Ed Miliband, but then so is almost everyone, including the cast of The Artist and the dog that used to say "sausages" on That's Life.

The consensus that it is one of Mr Cameron's strengths can be dated precisely to the address he gave to the Conservative conference in October 2005. My impression at the time was that it was exactly the sort of speech you would expect from a former director of corporate affairs for a television company who had also made a close study of the rhetorical techniques of the Blairite wing of the Labour Party.