On 4 October 2005, David Cameron, the Conservative leadership candidate and shadow education secretary, delivered a game-changing “no notes” speech at his party’s conference in Blackpool. The address, which championed a message of “modern, compassionate conservatism”, propelled Cameron from relative outsider to frontrunner.

The 2005 contest was triggered by Michael Howard’s resignation as Conservative leader, following the party’s third consecutive general election defeat. Cameron’s main opponent was David Davis, the shadow home secretary and Tory “big beast”. Cameron, meanwhile, had first been elected to parliament in 2001.

Cameron’s success in the 2005 contest owed to his positioning as the candidate of change. He promised a definitive break with his party’s past – a process of ‘modernisation’ previously pursued by Tony Blair as Labour leader.

As Blair re-cast Labour in the 1990s, Cameron called on the Conservative Party to reframe its offer for the 2000s. Cameron reportedly went as far as to style himself as the “heir to Blair”.

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In his 20-minute speech at the party’s Blackpool conference, Cameron eschewed the standard politician’s lectern, roaming the stage sans notes.

The address is remembered as a breakthrough moment for Cameron and even as a turning point in the recent history of the Conservative Party.

There was an audacity to the 38-year-old’s central pitch. “Some say that we should move to the right”, he told delegates. “I say that will turn us into a fringe party, never able to challenge for government again.”

Fundamental change was needed, Cameron said, “so that when we fight the next election, street by street, house by house, flat by flat, we have a message that is relevant to people’s lives today, that shows we’re comfortable with modern Britain and that we believe our best days lie ahead.”

The leadership candidate styled himself as the leader of a “new generation of Conservatives”.

Cameron said: “Let’s switch a new generation on to Conservative ideas. Let’s dream a new generation of Conservative dreams… We can lead that new generation. We can be that new generation, changing our party to change our country.”

In foreign affairs, he said the party should not “just stand up for Gibraltar and Zimbabwe, but for the people of Darfur and sub-Saharan Africa who are living on less than a dollar a day and getting poorer while we are getting richer.”

He said the “one more heave” approach, after three consecutive election defeats, was “wrong and pathetic”.

Cameron was also canny to identify Gordon Brown, the then-chancellor, as the Conservative party’s primary opponent, calling him “the great roadblock”, “the great tax riser”, and “the great regulator”.

He added: “How are we going to stop him? Tony Blair can’t. God knows, he’s tried hard enough… There’s one thing Gordon Brown fears more than anything else: a Conservative party that has the courage to change.”

He told delegates: “I joined this party because I believe in freedom. We are the only party believing that if you give people freedom and responsibility, they will grow stronger and society will grow stronger.”

Cameron concluded: “I want you to come with me. We’ll be tested, and challenged, but we’ll never give up. We’ll never turn back. So let the message go out from this conference, a modern compassionate Conservatism is right for our times, right for our party – and right for our country.

“If we go for it, if we seize it, if we fight for it with every ounce of passion, vigour and energy from now until the next election, nothing and no one can stop us.”

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Opinion polls of party members conducted in the days following the speech showed a significant surge in support for Cameron, catapulting him into a commanding lead over Davis.

Cameron’s principal rival had delivered a speech earlier in the week that was judged steady but uninspiring. None of the other contenders – Kenneth Clarke, Malcolm Rifkind or Liam Fox – seized the moment.

The “beauty contest” format, with each candidate given 20 minutes to convince the Conservative faithful, played directly into Cameron’s strengths as a communicator and political operator. Indeed, Rifkind had delivered a similar ‘no notes’ speech days before Cameron – but without anything like the same impact.

Cameron’s performance symbolised a break with traditional Tory politics. His apparent authenticity resonated strongly with party members and MPs, who responded with a three-minute ovation.

Cameron’s slick presentational style convinced many activists that the party had finally found a leader capable of matching the media-savvy of Tony Blair.

Boris Johnson, the MP for Henley and Cameron supporter, responded: “I thought he played a blinder and I thought he raised a particularly effective peroration, a juddering climax, which brought them all to their knees – that is, their feet – ha, their knees being weak at the time. Very good stuff.”

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In the first ballot of Conservative MPs on 18 October, Cameron finished second with 56 votes. Davis stood in the lead with 62 votes – a poorer showing than anticipated. In the second ballot, Cameron placed first with 90 votes.

The future prime minister then prevailed in the final ballot of Conservative members, with 134,446 votes. On a 78% turnout, Davis secured 64,398 votes.

Cameron led the Conservatives for the next 11 years, spending the latter six as prime minister.

In his memoirs, published December 2019, Cameron referred to the 2005 Conservative conference as “undoubtedly one of the most exciting of my life.”

He wrote: “The acoustics were good, the hall was packed and the audience was close to the stage. The atmosphere and the potential were tangible.”

He added: “What impressed many people was that I delivered it without notes, having memorised it as we drafted it. Watching it now, I find it rather wooden, but it worked.

“Within a single day the polls were transformed: support for me surged from 16% to 39%, while for Davis it collapsed from 30% to 14%. Between the conference in October and the ballot in December there appeared to be nothing that might shift the dial back in Davis’ favour.”

The future PM’s 2005 speech also inspired a trend of politicians delivering similar ‘no notes’ speeches.

In September 2014, Labour leader Ed Miliband – Cameron’s commons combatant – was criticised for forgetting parts of a speech he delivered without notes to Labour’s annual conference. Miliband forgot to recount some planned passages, including on the politically sensitive issues of immigration and the budget deficit.

George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, referred to the latter omission as “extraordinary”.

Defending his omissions, Miliband said: “I could’ve done it with Autocue, but people want someone to talk directly. I communicated a pretty effective plan for 10 years. It’s a style that works for me.”