PM: 'I'd be delighted if my kids became engineers'

The man who, according to his critics, wanted us to hug a hoodie has a brand new battle cry. Turn your outstretched arms away from the sallow youth lurking furtively outside KFC and show some love for the factory instead. David Cameron's message is clear: it is time to embrace an engineer. "Engineers are the ones who take society forward," enthuses the prime minister, speaking exclusively on his ambitions for the sector. "[Engineers create] the technologies and the structures, which carry us into new possibilities and new worlds." Let's be clear from the outset. These words are not articulated from the sofa of Number 10. Cameron's remarks are made in a written Q&A prompted by a WM email calling him out on his ardour for engineering. As such, there's no chance to spot a nervous glance here or a reassuring smile there, to check if the visual clues match the message. However, the PM's comments do offer rare insight into the engineering and manufacturing outlook of Britain's most powerful man. "I would be delighted," responds Cameron when asked how he would react should Nancy, Arthur or Florence return home from school one day and say, 'Dad, I want to be an engineer'. "I want young people to see engineering for the exciting, dynamic profession it is." The PM has been doing his bit for the cause. Cameron is fresh from a Downing Street photocall with the Bloodhound supersonic car, apprentices and schoolchildren, where he announced plans to recruit an extra 100,000 engineering technicians by 2018. The coalition and engineering: a love story Just the latest chapter, the spin doctors would tell you, in a Mills and Boon love story that began with the coalition's election victory in May 2010. Before then, engineering was the spinster of UK plc, the story goes. City analysts, retail magnets and construction kingpins quaffed bucks fizz and got a bit flirty during the Downing Street after-party. Engineers, meanwhile, stayed home to reconstruct the Corby Trouser Press with only the cat for company. Then in walked Cameron and co with their sultry stares. Vowing to atone for past mistakes, promising to treat us right – to wine and dine us at the top table of British politics and even throwing in some pillow talk about rebalancing the economy. "British engineering and innovation are part of our history that we should be very proud of and our engineering excellence continues to change the world that we live in for the better," Cameron says. "For too long, Britain's economy has been over-reliant on consumer debt and financial services. This government is committed to rebalancing the economy so that Britain makes things again." A Make it in Great Britain campaign, a £3.2 billion Regional Growth Fund (RGF), a £340m pilot scheme to boost apprenticeship uptake and £73m towards strengthening advanced manufacturing supply chains. Downing Street has been all flowers and chocolates these past three years. "We are one of the world's largest manufacturers and manufacturing contributes £150bn per year to the UK economy," enthuses Cameron. "Changes in the international economy clearly mean an increase in both competition and opportunities from global markets. This government is determined to help UK businesses grow and compete in the global race, which is why we have set out our industrial strategy, covering sectors such as aerospace and agricultural technologies." True love is unconditional And therein lies the problem. The industrial strategy – the first since the 1970s – is a brilliant example of the flaws in our relationship. The strategy arrived last September and was billed as a brave new era of partisan government support. Ministers teaming up with manufacturers to identify mutual gains: pulling out the stops with bank funding support, delivering skilled employees and teeing up university-led R&D collaborations. The brochure promised a manufacturing nirvana. And one year on, for those contributing to cars or planes, it's shaping up to be just that. Automotive and aerospace have enjoyed bespoke blueprints identifying, with clear SMART targets, how government will help. The rest of us are trying to reconcile the view of a building site from our balcony with the panoramic sea vista promised in the marketing bumph. Look over the small print and you will find this is an industrial strategy, not a manufacturing one. Many UK factories will have to piggy back on one of 11 sub strategies – covering everything from construction to international education – that sit within the industrial strategy mothership. Full government support is conditional on whether your shopfloor is supplying engine turbines or powertrains – anything considered advanced. Industrial policy is also steeped in Cameron's Big Society ideology, which seeks to devolve power to local level (the RGF and Employee Ownership of Skills pilot) and partner with proactive local volunteers (industrial strategies with the Automotive Council and ADS). Selective support means the march of the makers, as billed by the 2011 budget, is on a circular route, led astray by the government's blinkered view that you must be making something high-tech to have a chance. The ONS production output index stands at 100.3 – it was 100 when Cameron walked into Number 10. PMI has rattled up and down like a pinball machine in the same period. The UK is struggling for traction: the march is out of step. The beginning of the end for the skills crisis However, there is still cause for optimism. The PM's commitment to apprentice and school reform offers universal rewards. Cameron says: "I want us to raise our ambitions as a country when it comes to this area and to have, as a new norm, the idea that in school, everybody either takes that path on to university, or takes that path on to an apprenticeship. You should be doing one or the other." Hallelujahs will ring out from over the Hoshin planner at the prospect of competent school leavers, switched on to careers in manufacturing. Cameron continues: "I still don't think we are getting it right in school in terms of explaining to young people what their career options are. I don't blame teachers for this... They did A-levels and they went to university. They are familiar with that path. But I don't think we do enough to say to young people that you can get an apprenticeship." The government has invested £1.5bn in apprenticeships to help redress the balance, Cameron adds. Michael Gove has also spearheaded a sweeping review of our schools, which recommends more rigour in core subjects such as English and maths. A three-pronged attack is completed by plans to remove barriers preventing employees hiring new talents, as identified in the Richard Review of apprenticeships. Cameron says: "We want to make it as simple and rewarding as possible for employers to take on an apprentice and we want every apprenticeship to deliver high quality training which employers really value." Employers could soon see direct online payments for agreeing to take on an apprentice or PAYE windfalls under plans being trialled in the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot. The scheme offers government investment in initiatives that coach new skills or create jobs. Round two of the pilot has just closed, with 314 employers bidding for six times more than the £340m available in the funding pot. It's indicative of UK manufacturing's fortunes under the Cameron premiership. A triumph of the few: those meticulous enough to keep abreast of the latest DBIS initiatives or fortunate to be in a sector considered advanced. Of course we are flattered to hear a PM being so complimentary about engineering. But a world-beating manufacturer of wing nuts is just as worthy as one making wing nacelles. Innovative process design or people management are the true markers of manufacturing excellence, not what comes off the production floor. Until you learn to love us unconditionally, Mr Cameron, this relationship isn't going to work. Cameron on... ...his favourite piece of British engineering: "Clifton Suspension Bridge - it is both beautiful and functional." ...his ability in STEM subjects at school: "I was OK at maths - not so great at physics and chemistry." ...foreign ownership of UK manufacturers: "I don't think foreign ownership compromises our ability to deliver sustainable manufacturing growth. Companies like Jaguar Land Rover, Airbus and Siemens are creating and safeguarding jobs in our country, training up apprentices and helping to rebalance the economy."