HIGHLIGHTS - Cameron's speech to party

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Opposition leader David Cameron, tipped to become prime minister in an election due by June 2010, addressed his Conservative Party's annual conference on Thursday.

Following are key excerpts from his speech:

ECONOMY

"I have no illusions. If we win this election, it is going to be tough. There will have to be cutbacks in public spending, and that will be painful. We will need to confront Britain's culture of irresponsibility and that will be hard to take for many people."

AFGHANISTAN

"Our method should be clear ... send more soldiers to train more Afghans to deliver the security we need. Then we can bring our troops home."

DEBT CRISIS

"If we win the election, we will have to confront Labour's debt crisis, deal with it, and take the country with us. I want everyone to understand the gravity of our situation."

"If we spend more than we earn, we have to get the money from somewhere. Right now, the government is simply printing it. Sometime soon that will have to stop, because in the end, printing money leads to inflation. Then the government will have to borrow it."