DAVID Cameron yesterday revealed his grand plan for Oxfordshire and the country as a whole if he is elected as Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party leader, who is running for re-election as MP for the Witney constituency, launched the Tory manifesto for the General Election yesterday by telling voters: “Together we can do anything.”

Mr Cameron urged the country to vote for “a new kind of politics and a new kind of country” and presented his party’s manifesto as an invitation to voters to “join the Government of Britain.”

Prior to taking the stage, he granted the Oxford Mail an exclusive wide-ranging interview, in which he told the county’s voters he could be trusted to run Britain.

Mr Cameron also reassured readers he would be able to juggle representing his constituency and family life with the rigours of occupying No 10 Downing Street if his party wins a majority in the House of Commons.

The party’s pledges are contained in a 130-page booklet, which sets out a number of plans including reforming banking regulations, reducing the number of MPs by 10 per cent and freezing public sector pay for a year in 2011.

Promises to end £6bn of Whitehall waste, not to increase National Insurance contributions for people earning under £35,000, while freeing police from paperwork also formed part of Mr Cameron’s speech at Battersea power station in London.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed there was “a complete hole” in the Tory manifesto, which he said would put the economy at risk, while Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called it “style over substance”.

Are you confident of winning the election?

“This is going to be a very close fight but the campaign’s started very well. I think there’s a very clear choice – five more years of Gordon Brown or a change with the Conservatives. I think there’s very strong enthusiasm for what the Conservatives are standing for.”

Can you balance being a local MP with the demands of being Prime Minister?

“Obviously it puts huge pressure on your time, but I think the role of the constituency MP is very important, not just for helping your constituents but also as a daily and weekly reminder of what people are going through in their lives, whether it’s Clive Stone (a kidney cancer patient living in Mr Cameron’s Witney constituency who campaigns for new drugs to be made available on the NHS) who can’t get his cancer drugs or someone who can’t get Child Support Agency support over maintenance. These are the meat and drink of being in Parliament and they keep you rooted and grounded.”

Can you be trusted to run the country?

“Yes. People can see the Conservative Party has made great strides in the past four years. It’s now a party which is getting right behind the NHS, a party with a strong record on the environment, including at local government. There are big changes taking place and I think people can see that. But it’s not change without values – values of responsibility and enterprise, and family.”

Can you balance work with family life?

“It’s perfectly possible to be a good MP, a good leader of the opposition, a good Prime Minister, and a good father and husband. If it isn’t, there’s something wrong.”

Will your new baby be born in the John Radcliffe Hospital?

“No, I expect it will be in London because that’s where we are during the week. Last time was St Mary’s, Paddington, and I would expect probably the same thing again, but I’m just a minor player in these dramas.”

What do you like about your constituency?

“It’s one of the most beautiful parts of the country. What I’ve found in nine years of being MP is that whether you’re sitting in a primary school staff room or whether you’re out with the fire service or chatting to the police or talking to local businesses, there’s a real sense of a strong community in west Oxfordshire.”

What can the Tories offer workers at places like BMW’s Mini factory in Cowley?

“The National Insurance increase is in danger of killing the recovery. The last thing you want as the economy starts to grow is to make it more expensive to employ people. I’m a great fan of the Mini. They’ve created a great product and brand. It’s been a success story for Oxfordshire and I’m sure it will be in the future.”

Did you watch When Boris met Dave on Channel 4?

“I didn’t. I tried to watch it on my computer, but it froze. I was even sent a dartboard and some darts by Keith Deller, the famous darts player, because it said I used to watch the darts.”

Your time at the Hi Lo Caribbean restaurant in Cowley Road was featured.

“I haven’t been back there for a while, I ought to go. I think jerk chicken or flying fish is all it was but it was very good and very good beer – a lot of Red Stripe. I loved living in Cowley Road. Also with Ivan (his son who passed away last year) I used to spend some time at Helen House, so I’ve been back to that area since my student days and it’s had an amazing transformation.

Who are your Oxfordshire heroes?

“Tim Henman obviously, and, dead, Speaker Lenthall. He was the one who said to Charles I ‘I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place, but as the House is pleased to direct me, whose servant I am here’. That great moment of British Parliamentary history. I recorded a video for Jeremy’s Clarkson’s 50th birthday on Saturday, which was quite amusing because James May and Richard Hammond (from Top Gear) came to my office and they brought the Stig suit and hung it up in my office to pretend that I’m actually the Stig. Which, of course, I can exclusively reveal to Oxford Mail readers, I am not.”

Could Oxford University have to go private like US colleges?

“No, we don’t have plans to do that.”

Do you have a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan?

“I don’t think that’s right. Obviously with RAF Brize Norton in the heart of my constituency it’s a matter of great personal concern. This year and the early part of next year are absolutely key in making sure the mission is a success and I think Obama’s absolutely right to have this review in July 2011. I’m confident the situation is improving and our troops are doing a brilliant job.”

What are you views on housing shortages and building in the Green Belt?

“We’ve got proposals to completely change the planning system and the way it works and have much more local determination of what is built and where and to allow councils to keep more of the council tax and more of the money if they do build houses.”

What do you make of Oxford United?

“I’m an Aston Villa fan and we’ve had a right battering recently. Obviously I have to both support Witney and Oxford as well, so I’m a busy man.”