What White Dee taught the Government at the Tory party conference

The Benefits Street personality offered the Conservatives her wisdom on welfare

White Dee set out to tell the Conservative party "how it really is" at the Tory party conference today (29 September).

The Benefits Street star – who has previously pledged her allegiance to Labour – tweeted last night to say that she was getting an early night to prepare herself for the conference held in her hometown, Birmingham.

"Time to call it a night – big day tomorrow at the #toryconference in Birmingham – hope to meet #DavidCameron to say it how it really is," she tweeted.

Dee – real name Deirdre Kelly – drew quite a crowd, with only standing room left according to the BBC.

But what did she enlighten the Tory party with?

First and foremost, she may switch from Labour to Ukip…

"I like to speak for myself but Mr Farage doesn't seem to be doing a bad job. He has had a few extra members joining recently, hasn't he?"

Not everyone wants to work in "an office or build a wall"…

She also said not everyone can have a celebrity lifestyle, nor can they have a skilled job without putting the effort in.

Finding jobs has become harder under the coalition government…

Dee said that situation for jobseekers is "much worse" now than it has been with previous governments.

Apprenticeships are the way forward…

There is too much punishment and not enough training, she says. "I think people are too quick to sanction people who are looking for jobs. You do have to deal with it on an individual basis."

"There are people out there who are very happy to sit at home and receive their benefits and not physically look for a job. But I know people who apply for 20, 30 jobs a week."

The government needs to "concentrate more on the kids"…

Doing so, she says, would "stop them going into the system and getting stuck there for years and years". She also disagrees with David Cameron’s recent pledge that future Conservative government would bar 18-21 years olds from claiming housing benefit and would remove their entitlement to jobseekers’ allowance if they have been out of work for six months or more. Dee warned that this could cause problems for adolescents who had done nothing wrong.

Iain Duncan Smith is not doing his job properly…

Dee said that the Welfare and Pensions Secretary was "out of touch with the real world".

"The more common you are the more in touch you are"…

Listen up Boris, Cameron and Clegg. "Just because you are a little bit common doesn't mean that you are stupid and you wouldn't be able to have a good input," she said. "I think the more common you are the more in touch you are with real people, so yes [becoming an MP] would be something I would consider."

David Cameron doesn’t need to worry about her competing for his job yet…

"[Running for parliament] is something I would think about, but obviously I wouldn't object to starting at the bottom - I wouldn't want to go straight in and have David Cameron's job.

"I would think about it because I am interested in politics and I am interested in normal people and I am interested in the country."

Job centres need to be less judgemental…

"I have experienced some not very nice job centres," she said. "You do just go in, you sit down, you are looked down upon.

"They just need to understand that, just because you are on benefits does not mean that you are not a real person. Just because you are on benefits doesn't mean that you are not physically looking for a job."