Conservative Party Conference 2013: day three as it happened Jeremy Hunt has announced that the Care Quality Commission will be given statutory independence similar to that of the Bank of England in order to take hospital inspections out of the hands of politicians. Amid rumours of a pact with Cameron, Boris Johnson indicated that he still has ambitions to lead the Conservative Party and admitted he is "fudging" over a possible return to Parliament in 2015. David Cameron defended his ignorance of the price of budget supermarket bread by saying he prefers to bake his children healthy home-made granary loaves made with local flour. GPs will be asked to open seven days a week for up to 12 hours and consult patients via email and internet video link under plans to make it easier for patients to see a doctor. David Cameron and Nick Clegg pledged support to Ed Miliband over his newspaper row with the Daily Mail, which began when the paper published a highly critical profile of his late father. Chancellor George Osborne said Britain is 'war weary' after a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan and less keen on intervening overseas. David Cameron claimed that the Coalition's £600 million tax cut for married couples is "not an expensive move" and could be extended. David Cameron urged Ukip supporters and candidates to back Conservative election candidates while rejecting any possibility of an electoral pact with Ukip, mooted by its leader Nigel Farage. 17.45 And here is Telegraph Parliamentary Sketchwriter and Chief Humourist Michael Deacon with his take on Boris's speech. Listening to Boris Johnson is a bit like listening to Rowley Birkin, the sporadically comprehensible QC character from The Fast Show. Not, I hasten to add, that the Mayor of London shows any signs of being "very, very drunk." He is the epitome of cold sobriety. I mean merely that he swings endlessly back and forth between unintelligible muttering and imagery of surreal and blinding vividness. His speech at the Tory conference went more or less as follows. Murm murm murm urb, ginormous convocation of worms... Urb urb urb murm murm, put in a pen and pelted with pork pies... Murm murm murm murm, prodigious quantities of lubricant... Urb urb urb murm murm, glorified sheepdips... Read the full sketch here. 17.38 Here's Boris Johnson giving his speech earlier, accompanied by the usual theatrics. Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, delivers his speech in the Main Hall of Manchester Central on the third day of the Conservative party conference (Getty) 17.26 And a little more on the Miliband / Mail row. Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith criticised the paper earlier today at a fringe meeting organised by the Huffington Post. Here's an extract from their article on it. Goldsmith said Miliband had a "reason to react" to the Mail's "appalling article" on Saturday - headlined 'The Man Who Hated Britain' - and accused the Mail and its owners, the Rothermere family, of doing "more to pursue the Nazi cause prewar" than any other publication. The Conservative MP for Richmond Park and North Kingston echoed the views of countless Twitter users by raising the Mail's past associations with fascism and Nazism. He said it was "odd for a newspaper to judge a man on the basis of the history of his family when that newspaper is owned by a family that did more to pursue the Nazi cause prewar than any other [publication]." 17.11 Ed Miliband and the Daily Mail - having already written a reply in the Mail (for which he and his father were savaged further) and appeared on television to give interviews about it, Ed Miliband has now emailed Labour Party members about the Mail's highly critical profile of his late father Ralph Miliband, and set up a petition online. Suffice to say, he is not taking it lying down. Here's the email. On Saturday and last night the Daily Mail printed stories about my Dad. The headlines called him "The man who hated Britain." This isn't about me and my family - this is about doing what's right. Speak up for decency in British politics, and add your name to mine: It is perfectly legitimate for the Daily Mail to talk about my father's politics but when they say that he hated Britain, I was not willing to put up with that. My father loved Britain. After he arrived in Britain as a refugee from Nazi Germany, he joined the Royal Navy. He did so because he was determined to be part of the fight against the Nazis and to help his family hidden in Belgium. Britain was a source of hope and comfort for my dad, not hatred. He loved Britain for the security it offered his family and the gentle decency of our nation. The simple truth is something has really gone wrong when a newspaper attacks the family of a politician - any politician - in this way. I won't stay silent when it happens - that's why I have written a reply in today's Mail. I hope you take a moment to read it, and then say you won't stay silent either. We can be better than this. Please join me in speaking up for decency now: Thank you, Ed 16.41 Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham has hit back at his opposite number Jeremy Hunt, who earlier criticised Burnham for not mentioning the Mid-Staffs hospital scandal in his speech (see my 14.55 update). Writing on Labour List, Burnham had this to say: This afternoon, all we heard were more desperate attempts from Jeremy Hunt to blame anyone but himself for the crisis his Government created in the NHS. David Cameron's Government never takes responsibility and the truth is the NHS is going backwards on their watch. Those listening will have heard nothing to solve the A&E crisis, no guarantee that hospitals will have enough staff and little to offer collapsing social care services. What we did hear were warm words on GP appointments, but the announcement does nothing more than to underline this Government's incompetence. They've been forced to come back to what they scrapped after the election. Read the full post here. 16.19 That's it from Michael Gove. More detail and reaction on his speech to come. Up next in the main hall is a panel debate on election strategy. 16.15 Gove quotes Labour's Diane Abbott, who said in the House of Commons in June "It is precisely if you don't have parents to put in a word for you in a tough jobs market ... that you need the assurance of rigorous qualifications." Abbott has "more sense in her little finger than the entire rest of the Labour front bench put togeth," Gove says. A little less strong than in the Commons in June, when he told her he loved her. Gove says someone later told him, "but Michael, she's the most left-wing of all the Labour leadership candidates." After last week's Labour conference, we know that's not true, jokes Gove. 16.10 Gove departs from the hymnsheet, praising Lib Dems David Laws and Sarah Teather and Labour's Andrew Adonis for "pushing for higher standards whenever they've had the chance." But then hits out at union leaders over the current teachers strike. But there is one group of people I can't thank. Those standing in the way of progress. The leaders of the militant teaching unions have called a strike. And the reason they've gone on strike is a new example of twisted militant logic. They want to stop good teachers being paid more money. When I challenged one of those union leaders on the radio, he said I shouldn't worry because his union is implementing 'child-friendly industrial action'. It's one of the great contradictions of our times, like 'self-effacing Simon Cowell' or 'moving apology from Ed Balls'. The truth is there is nothing child friend about industrial action, schools have to close. Please, please, please, don't put your ideology before our childrens intrests. Gove gets a big round of applause for that last line, and goes on to accuse Labour of being a "towering blancmange" over the teaching unions. 15.57 Michael Gove is up now, following a long presentation about the successes of Bedford Free School, one of the first free schools in the country. "Ladies and gentlemen, I don't really need to say anything," says Gove. But he is going to. He begins by saying that the speakers that have preceded him prove that the Conservative Party is now the party of social justice in Britain. 15.35 David Cameron with Sam Gyimah, MP for East Surrey, at Conservative conference today. 15.28 Following Johns, George Parker, a former teaching union president from the US. "I bring you greetings from the shutdown capital of the world," he begins. Parker describes an "aha" moment he had as a union leader, when talking to a young schoolgirl from an underprivileged area. I realised, you don't care about whether or not she has the best teachers because you just spent over $10,000 to put a bad teacher back into the classroom, a teacher who had just been fired ... Am I the person whose going to simply carrying the union water? And only care about the union propaganda and about teachers? ... Or am I going to be serious about giving little children, who like myself grow up poor, a hand up ... I decided then that my duture will be advocating for children. He says unions have a tendency to fight against something rather than for something. He says he felt so proud of getting on television and saying 'we're fighting for the children' when his state was 48 out of 50 on education, but he realised he had to "get out of his union box." Strong anti-union stuff. 15.12 Delegates are hearing a very impassioned speech from broadcaster Lindsay Johns, who was introduced by Michael Gove. Johns works on a youth project in Peckham. He is advocating that young British children should combine pride of their Jamaican, Ghanain or Black British roots with love of canonical writers - "old, dead, white, European men." He hits out at schools and youth programmes striving to make classic literature "relevant" and says it is patronising and racist to assume these young people will only appreciate Shakespeare if it's "set it to a hip hop beat and presented in three-minute, MTV base style videos." Johns adds that those that assume so usually belong to the metropolitan elite, and have had the benefit of a classic Oxbridge education. He quotes Jesse Jackson: "No one ever suffered from being talked up to." Johns talks up the importance of a "rigorous" education. This is a spirited show of support for Michael Gove's stance on education. There's a standing ovation for Johns. 15.06 Here's more on the the CQC indpendence policy introduced by Hunt just now his speech, from a Conservative press release. I'll link to the full release when I can find it online. The health regulator, the Care Quality Commission, is to be given greater independence to ensure it can act fearlessly as the nation's chief whistleblower on health, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today. Under the proposals, the Health Secretary will relinquish a range of powers to intervene in the operational decisions of the CQC. This means that the CQC will no longer need to ask for Secretary of State approval to carry out an investigation into a hospital or care home. It will also remove the Secretary of State's power to direct CQC on the content of its annual report. In addition, the newly created positions of Chief Inspector of Hospitals, General Practice and Adult Social Care, will be enshrined in law. This will place the positions on a permanent footing and ensure that individuals who are appointed to the roles are able to speak up for patients without fear of political interference. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "Today I can announce a major reform that will stop politicians ever attempting to suppress or cover up poor care again. 15.01 Hunt on restoring named GPs We need to rediscover the ideal of family doctors ... giving GPs the time and space to care proactively for vulnerable older people. Labour's GP contract abolished named GPs ... trust between doctor and patient is at the heart of what NHS professionalism stands for and we should never have allowed that GP contract to undermine it. So from next April we'll be reversing that mistake by introducing named GPs .. restoring the link between doctors and patients for millions of people. 14.59 Hunt on making the CQC independent Today I can announce a major reform that will stop any government trying to cover up bad news. We'll legislate to give the CQC statutory independence so ministers can never lean on it to suppress bad news. The care of our NHS patients is too important for political meddling and our new legislation will ensure that ministers always put patients first. 14.55 Hunt on Andy Burnham and privatisation Andy Burnham didn't find the time to mention Mid Staffs. Not once. But he did mention privatisation, 13 times ... No ideology, left or right, should trump the needs of patients because for patients it's not public versus private it's good care versus bad care. And we'll stamp out bad care. 14.50 Hunt on Mid-Staffs and a new NHS inspector This year we appoint for the first time a chief inspector of hospital. This is someone whose job is to speak out wihout fear or favour - the nation's whistleblower-in-chief. HIs tough new inspections mean that everyone will know the answers to some simple questions, how good is my local hospital, is it safe, does it put patients first. It sounds simple, but many of these problems should never have happened in the first place In a huge system like the NHS, things do go wrong whichever party is in power but, tragically, under Labour the system did everything it could to cover up mistakes. 14.43 Health secretary Jeremy Hunt is on now. You can watch live above. He begins by saying it has been a "wonderful year in remarkable organisation." 14.34 Minister Without Portfolio Ken Clarke has attacked Ukip at a fringe meeting this afternoon, reports my colleague Peter Dominiczak. Ken Clarke has attacked Ukip and said that he would "worry for the fate" of his children if Britain left the European Union. Clarke, the Minister Without Portfolio, criticised Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, and Godfrey Bloom, who last month forced to quit the party after calling female members "sluts." "If you allow Bloom and Farage and all those people to lead us off into some splendid isolation, I must say I weep for England," Clarke said. I would worry for the fate of my children and grandchildren in the kind of role they are trying to lead us in to. Clarke was criticised earlier this year after he dismissed some Ukip voters as "racists." 14.14 There has been a lot speculation about David Cameron and Boris Johnson having struck a deal under which Johnson gets on message and supports Cameron in the run up to 2015 and Cameron supports a return to parliament for Johnson in 2015. No such deal, the mayor of London told Sky News, acknowledging that he had at times been a thorn in Cameron's side. No, no, no, no. My party is going forward to an election, which I think we're going to win, but which will unquestionably be tight and it will be tough. I want to be useful, I want to be supportive, and we had a conversation about how I could do that, because there's no question that there have been times when a bit of plaster has come off. 13.46 More form Chris Hope at the Channel 4 fringe meeting with George Osborne. Britons are "war weary" and so less keen on intervening overseas, says George Osborne. The Chancellor said he could "make a very good argument" why people should be interested in events around the world. But he admitted: "There is a war weariness in this country." He said that fatigue among Britons after more than a decade of overseas military involvement in Iraq and then Afghanistan was part of the reason why MPs rejected military intervention in Syria in the House of Commons in August. 13.44 With Boris Johnson on stage and in front of the television cameras this morning you would have thought gag of the day was in the bag. Not so, I'm awarding it early to Michael Gove, for this quip on George Osborne's new barnet. 13.36 Chris Hope, who is roving around the conference with camera menacing politicians, has caught up with Boris Johnson again. Asked the price of value bread - following Cameron's claim this morning it was "north of a pound" - Boris appeared to have done his research. Then, in his inimitable style, he offered to give the price of champagne. 13.30 Legalising gay marriage is the same as outlawing slavery, George Osborne told a fringe meeting this afternoon. My colleague Chris Hope was there. The Chancellor told a Channel Four News fringe meeting that he ranked the decision to allow same sex marriages with the work of William Wilberforce, who campaigned to end slavery in the 19th century. Osborne's comments confirm that he was one of the prime movers behind persuading David Cameron, the Prime Minister, to make the change last year. At the weekend a new book by Telegraph columnist Matthew d'Ancona claimed Cameron privately regrets passing the legislation, given the upset it caused many of the party's supporters. 12.58 Here are some of the key points from Eric Pickles' speech. He said the Tories will scrap controversial parking 'spy cars' So we will make it easier for hardworking people to pop into the local shop to buy a newspaper or a pint of milk. We will empower local residents to challenge the excessive yellow lines and unreasonable fines. We will switch off the parking "cash cameras" and spy cars. We are helping families with the cost of living, and supporting local shops. He hit out at EU regulation Will branding Britons from cradle to grave with EU flags drive economic growth? Will fining local community groups help balance the EU budget? Non. Will barmy cycle lanes and the EU's flying circus make us love Brussels more? Nein. Brussels says it needs "more Europe" to save the Euro. As Ronald Reagan might have said, more EU government is not the solution to our problems. The EU is the problem. He praised the government for cutting admin waste In my department, we've cut our administration by a cool £532 million, from savings big and small. Our corporate credit card spending fell by three-quarters after we published every transaction online. We've cut back the consultants, the temps, the marketing budget. We've stopped translating documents into foreign languages. And shortly, to save £9 million a year, my whole department is going to bunk in with Theresa at the Home Office. 12.44 You would have thought that a sitting Prime Minister, especially one with David Cameron's background, would get a weekly briefing on the price of a loaf of bread and a pint of milk. And perhaps what's top of the charts, if they still exist. But Cameron managed to fluff his lines when asked about the bread this morning. He may take some comfort from the fact that Boris also failed woefully last month when asked the price of a pint of milk. How do you stack up against the Tory bigwigs? Take our quiz to find out: How in touch with the people are you? 12.26 'I don't think that was peak Boris' - Telegraph Parliamentary Sketchwriter Michael Deacon and Columnist Isabel Hardman discuss the speech from "Entertainer-in-Chief" Boris Johnson, giving his new sober streak six months. 12.05 Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith is up now. More detail on his speech to come. Meanwhile Boris has been doing the rounds at the broadcasters. In customary form, he has invoked the baked bean to field questions on his leadership ambitions. Who knows what Boris needs to do in this life to come back as a baked bean, perhaps he's already done it, but to be leader he needs to be an MP of course. So what seat does he fancy? Chris Hope asked him. 11.58 More on that joke from Boris Johnson about his prime ministerial ambitions, from Peter Dominiczak.