BRING IT ON

So did David Cameron pass the test for the nationals?

It is probably best to start at the Sun which could be described as the barometer of political opinion for the marginal seats and may well influence Gordon's final decision at the weekend.

On Monday it was describing Cameron's task as Mission impossible.

This morning the paper says

GUTSY David Cameron set the Tories alight yesterday as he turned Mission Impossible into Mission POSSIBLE

.

In fact all the papers applaud David Cameron's gutsy performance,

Bring it on says the Guardian and the Times is specially impressed by the unscripted nature of the address.

The Conservative leader took the risk in Black-pool of speaking without the mandatory autocue and in a manner that was conversational. While impressive in some respects, the length of what he said, the micro-detail and the tone crowded out any overarching argument or narrative. Ironically for a man, who, as his opponents often snidely observe, has had a long background in public relations, this was a speech without a memorable slogan.

But says the paper

If there is to be an election, however, the Conservatives will have to offer a smaller number of sharper themes. A tour d’horizon such as he produced yesterday would not work as a message in the heat of the hustings.

The Independent says

Mr Cameron's serious and at times rambling political tour d'horizon fell some way short of the brilliance that had dazzled delegates two years before. But circumstances had conspired to set Mr Cameron quite a different mission from either the one he had accomplished so conclusively from the same platform in 2005, or the one he had expected to face this week.

Adding that

By yesterday afternoon, it was less the scepticism of his party that he had to overcome – the threat of an imminent election had tamed the party and potential rivals into grateful quiescence – than the scepticism of the country at large. With speculation about a snap election rampant, Mr Cameron suddenly had to present himself as a plausible Prime Minister and a credible rival to Gordon Brown.

How wonderfully the whiff of cordite can concentrate the mind

says the Telegraph and the paper is certainly convinced

Mr Cameron has frequently been criticised for having no guiding principles as a politician, no clear vision for the party he leads. That accusation will be hard to level after yesterday.
There were the core Tory verities of strong families, lower taxation, a smaller state, personal responsibility, zero tolerance of crime, firm immigration controls. But he also set out the guiding principles for reform of our ailing public services - giving responsibility to the head teacher, the doctor, the police chief, and making them directly accountable not to the politicians, but to the people they serve.

As is the Mail

For the first time in a great many years, Britain has an Opposition party worthy of the name. That can only be good for the country and for democracy itself.

The Mirror doesnt agree,it reports

Desperate Tory leader David Cameron yesterday threw down the gauntlet to Gordon Brown in his conference speech made without notes.
But his over-rehearsed 70-minute showpiece betrayed a man making a last gasp appeal for the support of his own party.
He offered no new policies, returning instead to the traditional values that engage the Tory heartlands.

Its leader says

like most wannabes on the ITV talent show, his slightly hysterical pitch was nothing more than grand delusion.
He pretended his speech was off the cuff, but he'd clearly spent days rehearsing it. He pretended he had policies, but refused to say what they were. He pretended he had what it takes to lead this great nation, but was found wanting.

and

It was a cringeworthy performance that had even Tory party loyalists cowering behind the proverbial sofa in embarrassment.

Finally the Guardian has reservations describing yesterday as a

deconstructed speech to suit a rootless world, an audacious attempt to give purpose to his politics by defining himself as the liberating voice of a new generation. No one could question his courage, speaking fluently for more than an hour without a script, his audience waiting anxiously for a pause or a slip that never came. Nor could they doubt his commitment to changing the way his party is seen and some of what it stands for.

but

there is much that is still incomplete about the Conservative project of regeneration

The next set of opinion polls will appear in the press over the weekend and Gordon Brown will decide