The Conservative Leadership

[The Bigot's Bigot's Bigot's Bigot (chairs)]

Rory Bremner did an excellent sketch which involved Rifkind running out of batteries as his voice slowed to a halt. All too appropriate. Rifkind has none of the charisma required and would further bore and alienate the middle ground voters the party needs to attract. Cameron is an attractive communicator but surely needs time. Has to be Ken Clarke for the moment as he might appeal to those voters lost post 97. The election of Rifkind, Davis or Redwood (god no!) would demonstrate a party still not listening to the public and one that would almost certainly deliver yet another term for Labour!

[Eliot Wilson]

Ken Clarke is, however, sixty-five years old, and while his healthy diet and lifestyle suggest a long life (!), he'd be pushing seventy by the time of the next election. Besides which, I suspect he's far too busy earning fag money to lead a broadly Eurosceptic Tory Party.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that his failure to become leader in 1997 and 2001 combined with the poor fortunes of the Tory Party have made him a mythical figure in people's minds, who could right all the ills besetting the party. And it ain't necessarily so.

Funny, though, isn't it: the plan in 1997 was for Howard to stand as leader and Hague to be his deputy. One wonders how that might have worked out.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Stuart]

Quoting AlenWatters from 13:56, 10th May 2005
It would be refreshing though to see a Scottish Catholic from East Kilbride leading the Tories...

Because the party prospered under the last Scottish Catholic leader

N.B. I have nothing against Catholics (or indeed Scots)

[Eliot Wilson]

Bute?

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Stuart]

IDS

[Eliot Wilson]

Goodness, I'd forgotten he was a Tim.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Stuart]

With a healthy dose of Shinto.

[Eliot Wilson]

Well, Sir Malcolm Rifkind has all-but-declared that he will stand for the leadership of the Conservative and Unionist Party when the election comes in the autumn. I'm pleased; I make no secret of the fact that it is my conviction, strengthened by a month's thinking and watching, that Sir Malcolm is the most promising (and least flawed) of the potential candidates to lead the party for the coming Parliament. he's an obviously able and clever man, and I think that's a good thing in a party leader. But, my, it's looking like it could be a crowded field.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Stuart]

I would actually be surprised if there are more than two or three who actually throw their hats (a fedora, perhaps) into the ring. Saying that, I don't see Sir Malcolm as the 'Stop Davis' candidate that everyone will rally behind.

For a number of reasons I am glad that I won't have a say in this (unless my constituency chairman resigns, in which case I can take part in the proposed consultative vote), because I really cannot decide who I want to see as leader. None of the likely candidates inspire me, I'm afraid.

[Saki]

To my mind, what the Tories really need is a vision. Ideally, they want someone equal and opposite to Blair - someone from a poor background who made good and who can sell that as something other people can and would do under a Tory government. They need to have an idealistic spin to their policies - go with the equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcome school of thought. Make state schools better rather than insist that universities take state school students with poorer grades. Argue that less regulation would increase innovation. Praise rather than criticise immigrants for their hard work and contribution to British life.

I don't know if any of the proposed candidates could do this because we simply don't know that much about them, with the exception of Ken Clarke. In the absence of anyone like that, the best they can do is go for a leader that people have heard of and who isn't instantly forgettable as IDS/Hague were.

[Eliot Wilson]

Why must the Tory leader be someone from a poor background who made good? What really boils my piss about this "Isn't Malcolm Rifkind too posh?" is that a) he isn't posh, and b) what is effectively being criticised is his having gone to a good school and university and having made a success of himself. But, in the end, I think he had it right; once the election is done, people will be much less interested in where the new Leader of the Opposition came from, and much more in where he is going.

Yes, a vision is important, but I think too much has been made of the differences between the candidates. Promoting individual freedom is in no way incompatible with a quest for social justice; it's all a matter of emphasis.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Guest]

I only Aitken hadn't been such a lying scumbag, he would have been perfectly placed to assend to the Blue-rinse throne now and would easily defeat Brown/Darling in 2009.

[Eliot Wilson]

Jonathan Aitken is only a year younger than Michael Howard, though; he'll be 63 this year, and 67 or 68 at the next election.

Oh yeah, and he turned out to be a lying scumbag, too.

[hr]

Bill and Ted beat the Grim Reaper at Twister

Bill: "You played very well, Death, especially with your totally heavy Death robes."

Death: "Don't patronise me."

[Stuart]

I believe Sir Malcolm went to GWC before it became fee-paying, no?

[flarewearer]

Iain Duncan Smith is one-eighth Japanese

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