David Willetts

In a speech to the Social Market Foundation, David Willetts discusses the different strands which a coherent modern conservatism needs to address if it is to regain power.

 In a speech to the Centre for Social Justice, David Willetts set out some key values in the fight against poverty (including relative poverty) and explains how Compassionate Conservativism is a real and powerful current of policy.

In this speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research, David Willetts set out an agenda for dealing with some of the fundamental social changes we have experienced over the last few decades.

In a speech to the think-tank Politeia, David Willetts explains the problems of the pensions crisis, how it came about and what we can do about it.

In a lecture to the Viennese Institute of Human Science, David Willetts compared the continental Christian Democratic and British Conservative traditions, and discusses the strands of thought which link the traditions. He also sets out three basic principles of public service reform.

David Willetts gave the inaugural lecture to the Conservative History Group, explaining what lessons there are to draw from the previous periods when Conservatives have been in opposition and made successful returns to Government.

In this speech, David Willetts reflects on the problems of the current tax credit system, the lessons to draw from it, and what we can do about it.

In a speech in Birmingham, David Willetts discusses the issue of worklessness and the many families who are let down by the benefit system.

In a speech in Boston, David Willetts explained how pensions systems around the world differ, and a few policy ideas on how we deal with our current and future pensioners, and the debts we owe to them. (Note: this is a transcript of a recording)

In this speech, David Willetts explains how public policy should interact with social change, and looks at some of the changes in the workplace and in the family which have caused a lot of comment.

In a speech from 2002, David Willetts set out the case for a broader modern Conservatism and reflected on how being a party of Government for 18 years caused the Conservative Party problems in adjusting to Opposition.

In a 2000 pamphlet for the CPS, David Willetts explains how lone parents lose out in the current welfare system.
Download A Raw Deal for Lone Parents (PDF) (6mb)
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(With thanks to the CPS)

In a 1999 pamphlet for the CPS, David Willetts explains what lessons Conservatives can learn from the 1906 and 1945 landslides.
Download After the Landslide (PDF) (333kb)

In a 1998 pamphlet, David Willetts discusses his experience with tax credit reform in the 1980s and reflects on the systems then introduced by Gordon Brown

In a lecture to the CPS, David Willetts reflects on Conservatism, nationhood and the role of institutions.
Download Who Do We Think We Are? (PDF) (129k)