Print money, spend, repeat - UK Conservatives take aim at Labour

By Elizabeth Piper

MANCHESTER, England, Oct (HKSE: 3366-OL.HK - news) 5 (Reuters) - The Bank of Labour - print money, spend money, repeat.

At the annual conference of Britain's ruling Conservative Party, derision over the election of far-left lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the main opposition Labour Party is never far from the surface.

At a stall in the conference centre, red 100 pounds notes were handed out with Corbyn's face and the slogan 'print money, spend money, repeat' - mocking the Labour leader's financial policies which one minister said would "wreck the economy".

Many Conservatives see his election, which exposed deep divisions in Labour, as a gift. With almost three in four people failing to see Corbyn as a prime minister-in-waiting, some argue he is all but unelectable and may have handed the Conservatives at least 10 more years in power.

But despite speeches loaded with sarcasm, Conservative ministers are wary of being triumphalist and instead are trying to show they are "business as usual" to press their advantage.

"Let us send out the message loud and clear, Labour are a threat to our national security, our economic security and the security of every family in Britain," Business Secretary Sajid Javid told the conference in northern city of Manchester.

"We will not let them wreck our country!"

The Conservative finance minister, George Osborne, said Labour's policies, which Corbyn says will protect the most vulnerable in society and produce a kinder, more compassionate politics, would drive the economy into ruin.

The Conservative Party is keen to burnish an image that only it can look after the economy, after doubts over Labour stewardship dealt the party a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections in May.

"No, it's always the poorest who suffer when the economy fails. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's always working families who lose their jobs. That's not a kinder, caring Britain," Osborne said.

"It's economic cruelty dressed up as socialist compassion."

But the sharp words - a mainstay of party conferences which are as much aimed at firing up old members as appealing to new voters - were tempered by appeals to not become complacent.

One top aide told Reuters that the party had to make sure it did not allow divisive policies such as membership of the European Union to end in infighting. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum by the end of 2017 to settle an issue that has split the party for years.

Veteran former politician and Conservative Party member, Edwina Currie, said the tone of the conference was surprising.

"I thought it would be back-slapping, with everyone drunk on champagne, self-congratulatory and smug, but it's completely different. It's business-like," said Currie, a lawmaker for 14 years.

She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) said the party, which won a majority for the first time in 18 years in May, needed to prove it could rule and credited Osborne, seen by many as the Conservative prime minister-in-waiting, with giving a "hard edge" to the conference.

"They have got to deliver," Currie told Reuters.

"If we still have austerity, debt and have failed to keep our promises in five years, then people will vote for the (Labour) dream, this nirvana, their imaginary world." (additional reporting by William James, editing by Janet McBride (LSE: MCB.L - news) )