George Osborne delivers his keynote speech to Conservative party members and supporters (Pic: Getty)

RIP Compassionate Conservatism – buried yesterday by Chancellor George Osborne.

He turned the clock back to the days of hard-line Thatcherism, blue in tooth and claw.

Scapegoating workers for the country's economic troubles is old Tory prejudice. Handing bad bosses a gun to fire staff who have served loyally for as long as two years casts a long shadow over lives.

Employment soared when Labour allowed unfair dismissal claims after a year. There's no proof Osborne's plan would create a single job, only his jaundiced reactions based on dubious anecdotes. And he wiped away the veneer of greenwash – sprayed on the party to get elected – shooting Cameron's huskies.

Plastic concern for the environment always smacked of a con. Osborne confirmed that yesterday. The bankruptcy of Conservative thinking was laid bare in Manchester. Osborne had nothing to say on restoring growth in the economy.

His debt fetish is squeezing the life out of the country. Chucking workers on the scrapheap will push Britain further into deficit. The jobless stop paying taxes and start claiming benefits.

Osborne was right to say that Britain can't borrow it's way out of debt. Yet the nation can and should invest its way to prosperity. Of course, even George the Scrooge felt the need to offer a few crumbs.

He spun an £800million council tax freeze but that's only 1/15 of Osborne's £12billion VAT raid on families.

Him blaming the euro for Britain's problems is pathetic. When Labour blamed the US, he sneered. The truth is both a weak Europe and US are hurting our economy.

But the biggest threat is George Osborne.