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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Brown taunts Tories over grammars | Brown taunts Tories over grammars |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Gordon Brown has attacked the Conservatives following the party's row over grammar schools. | Gordon Brown has attacked the Conservatives following the party's row over grammar schools. |
| At Labour leadership hustings in Cardiff, he mocked Tory leader David Cameron's efforts to make the party out as compassionate Conservatives. | |
| Mr Brown claimed the Tories were caught between what they think they should say and "what they really believe". | |
| He admitted Iraq had been divisive but said that the country was entering a "new stage". | |
| 'Centre ground' | 'Centre ground' |
| Mr Brown said the Conservatives were obsessed by grammar schools. | Mr Brown said the Conservatives were obsessed by grammar schools. |
| "You will find very quickly that they are caught between what they think they should say - so that they can be understood by the British people that they are in the centre ground - and what they really believe," he went on. | "You will find very quickly that they are caught between what they think they should say - so that they can be understood by the British people that they are in the centre ground - and what they really believe," he went on. |
| Mr Cameron has said he will not shelve changes despite the grammar schools row. | |
| Mr Brown also accused parts of the Tory party of wanting to abolish the NHS - despite Mr Cameron's focus on health. | Mr Brown also accused parts of the Tory party of wanting to abolish the NHS - despite Mr Cameron's focus on health. |
| "Whenever it has come to the crunch in the last few months they have made a decision that they will opt for the old policies and not the new policies," said Mr Brown. | "Whenever it has come to the crunch in the last few months they have made a decision that they will opt for the old policies and not the new policies," said Mr Brown. |
| 'Mistakes made' | |
| He accepted that Iraq had been a divisive issue in the UK. | |
| "We have got to recognise that mistakes have and were made both in the run up to the war and in the administration of it," he said. | |
| "I am not going to recoil from the decisions that I made and am part of the Cabinet that made these decisions but I would say this that we are entering a new stage." | |
| Mr Brown said the aims for Iraq were security, political reconciliation and giving Iraqis a stake in the future of the country. | |
| Poverty promises | |
| The chancellor made a guarantee over jobs at disabled employer Remploy which has unveiled cost-cutting plans to close 43 factories across the UK. | |
| He said: "If it's necessary to increase the money to maintain that guarantee I give you the assurance we will increase the money to do so." | |
| Mr Brown said promises made at the G8 summit in Germany to tackle poverty in Africa had to be kept. | |
| On the subject of lengthening the time terror suspects are held, Mr Brown said it could not be done without proper judicial oversight. |