Tory leadership ballots close
The ballots for the Conservative party leadership close today, with David Cameron set to beat rival David Davis by as much as two votes to one.
A poll in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph found that 67 per cent of grassroots Tory voters support the shadow education secretary, compared to just 33 per cent for Mr Davis.
The result will be announced at 3pm tomorrow, bringing to an end the uncertainty begun by Michael Howard’s resignation announcement following May’s general election defeat.
Yesterday the outgoing Tory leader was forced to defend his decision not to call an immediate vote for a successor, and instead launch a failed attempt to change the rules for choosing the party leader.
Critics argue the Conservatives have been prevented from providing adequate opposition to the government for the last six months, but Mr Howard insisted the debate about the future of the party had been invaluable.
“I wanted the Conservative party to have a debate about the way forward before we got into a leadership contest. We haven’t had that sort of debate for 30 years,” he told Sky News.
“The last time we had this sort of debate was after our second defeat in 1974, and that lead some months later to the election of Margaret Thatcher, and our victory in 1979 and 18 years of Conservative government.”
And he rejected suggestions that his actions were designed to avoid handing the position to Mr Davis, who led opinion polls all summer, before falling back after what was widely seen as a lacklustre performance at the annual party conference in Blackpool in October.
“Now I didn’t know who was going to come out of it best, I didn’t know what was going to happen at the party conference, but I wanted to put in place a process which would give the party the best possible opportunity of making an informed choice as to who ought to lead us,” Mr Howard said.
The leadership campaign has been a largely amicable affair, with neither Mr Davis nor Mr Cameron indulging in mud-slinging. The shadow education secretary has often said he would offer his rival a senior post in his shadow cabinet if he were appointed leader.
Things threatened to turn sour this weekend, however, when the media were briefed that Mr Cameron was considering demoting the shadow home secretary to a lesser post on the front bench. However, the Cameron campaign has roundly rejected this suggestion.
If he does win tomorrow, Mr Cameron has less than 24 hours before his first major test as party leader – prime minister’s questions in the Commons, where he will face Tony Blair over the dispatch box.
It will be a chance for the 39-year-old to put in practice his call for a more consensual and less confrontational style of politics – he has insisted he would not revert to the trading of accusations that has characterised Mr Howard’s exchanges with the prime minister.
