"Now it is the time to press on the accelerator..."

"Changing our party - changing our country. The fire of hope burning bright once again."

So said David Cameron, at the Tory party conference, with an apparent disregard for basic grammar/verbs.

As much as I hate to agree with him, Prescott makes a valid point:

"David Cameron cannot continue going month after month without saying anything of substance."

There are two key roles for any opposition party - to oppose the government, and to offer an alternative vision of government to the electorate. And any Leader of the Opposition must achieve at least one of these objectives lest they become like the Quiet Man. Both Hague and Howard, regardless of their flaws, were very good opposing - they argued and won at Question Time and Howard in particular managed to oppose Blair in spite of leading a demoralised rump of a party. He could never have won the 2005 election, but he managed to extract a respectable result (relative to 2001) in the 2005 General Election in 18 months of leadership. He may not have set out a convincing alternative vision for the UK but he did at least oppose Blair.

Now Cameron has made it clear that he does not want to be a typical negative, carping opposition party. Which is fine - he can instead focus offering an alternative vision of Britain - something the Conservatives have not offered since Blair stole their clothing to win his "historic" victory. But something has gone wrong with the Cameron Project. He is talking about change, a change to win. But he is fundamentally failing on a crucial level - as Prescott hints at, he talking about change, but failing to say what that change will be.

Getting the likes of Bob Geldof to advise the party is not useful - it is a PR stunt, pure and simple. Equally holding the conference in the North is a media exercise - nothing more. Cameron has had a wonderful honeymoon period with the British media, but the British electorate are not convinced. With a dog tired Labour Party and a scandal ridden Liberal Democratic Party, the Tories are still set to lose seats in the local elections on May 4th.

Cameron needs to say what he wants, he needs to vocalise what he believes in and what his party believes in. The ex-PR man is doing very well at impressing the media, but if he wants to take on Blair and Brown, he needs to start explaining how the Conservative Party has changed. Prescott is right - Cameron is flirting with the media, but not saying anything useful.

We need an opposition party in this country that can really take on Labour, and we need an alternative government that can offer a way of improving the NHS, the education system and the pension system. It also needs a party that can get us out of Iraq in an honourable way (apologies for the shameless plug for the UKDF). Now, I voted for Davis but when Cameron won, I desperately wanted him to do well. I desperately wanted him to get away from his nebulous talk of future change in the party and get on with the business of offering a real, tangible alternative to New Labour.

Cameron - I want you to become an opposition leader worthy of being the next PM. Either fight New Labour or offer an alternative to it. But stop pontificating, stop promising change and failing to explain what that change will be. Stand up and say what you believe in, and what you want to happen to the UK. Cameron does not need a Clause Four moment (when Blair left behind the Labour party and became Tory Plan B), but he desperately needs to define himself and his party.

Because at the moment, whilst my vote in the Conservative Leadership election was for the losing candidate, it was for the right person. And the Conservative Party is well on it's way to another defeat at a General Election.