Third time lucky?

Former UK chancellor and political heavyweight Ken Clarke is to make a third bid for the leadership of Britain's Conservative Party. The current leader, Michael Howard, announced his intent to step down after the Tories' defeat at this year's general election.

It's to be hoped that the party has learned its lesson from the last two times Mr. Clarke contested the leadership. On both occasions the Tories chose to be led by a nincompoop instead: first the baby-faced William Hague, then the wooden Iain Duncan-Smith. Public ridicule and crushing electoral defeat swiftly followed.

Third time lucky, perhaps?

Comments

[on 30.08.05 at 21:38]

Whilst agreeing with The Limey on his description of the last two...I suspect that even "boozy Ken" can't pull the party together and make them a force to be reckoned with at the next election.

Strangely enough, I met Hague at a dinner...he was charming and spoke well and he was intellectually all there; a touch like Alex. He just did not have the prescence or the stature to make a PM.

Sometimes in the UK (and maybe elsewhere) the electorate says, "enough"...and changes the political colour of the Govt much to everyone's surprise.

I have a feeling it will take such a change for the Cons to get back in.

[Big Bad Wolf ^..^ on 30.08.05 at 21:51]

Boy I can relate to Ken's spirt to keep trying....Hope he wins the Conservative leadership. Howard to his credit got the party moving in the right direction again...Meanwhile in Bermuda Grant Gibbons should move aside from the UBP leadership and give John Barrit a chance as Opposition Leader.

[loki on 30.08.05 at 22:06]

Ah, good old Ken. I would love to see Ken Clarke inject some legitimacy into the Conservative Party - a party which, whether or not you agreed with its direction, has certainly lost its direction wince Thatcher left (actually, it probably lost direction about 1/2 way through her final term).

Ken Clarke is not only a political heavyweight, he's also a very smart man and, perhaps more importantly, a man of the people. One could imagine having a couple of pints and a good political discussion with Ken Clarke at the pub, which is not something you could say for Ian Duncan Smith or William Hague. As for Michael Howard - a disaster. Anne Widdecombe was right: there is "something of the night" about that man, and it's not good for a party when you can imagine Van Helsing wanting to have a quick word with your party leader...........

Good luck, Ken. If you get in, by God, I may even be persuaded to vote Conservative!

[Stephen on 31.08.05 at 04:25]

Ken would be a good leader - but he isn't the problem the Tories face - it's their visible membership. For all the talk of modernising, scratch most older Tories and under the surface you still often find deep prejudices - foreigner hating, racism, anti-gay, anti-Europe. My own MP used the spectre of immigration being a cause of rising rates of TB in the UK to get elected - on negligible evidence.
Ken doesn't hold those views but he is of the generation who do and it will be difficult for him to get elected within the party because he is relatively liberal compared to his peers. He has a mammoth task ahead if he is elected - but, yes, he's one of the few who could bring them back from the wilderness.

[Yet another limey on 31.08.05 at 04:30]

The only problem with Ken Clark is at the next election he'll probably be against Gordon Brown - a man with almost identical policies and ideas. At the last change of government Ken passed the economic batton to Gordon who kept running in the same direction. Even since then Ken has praised Gordon's running of the economy.

[Gray on 31.08.05 at 21:01]

Although I have always voted Labour it took me a while to realise that in a true democratic society you need at least one strong opposition party to keep everything in check. The Conservatives have been seriously lacking in this regard, and the Liberals are unlikely to ever really be taken seriously. So I actually hope that Ken may be the man to challenge the Government where necessary. I'm still unlikely to vote for the Conservative party but that doesn't mean to say that I agree with all of the current Government's policies. I would like to see the Government challenged more effectively and if Ken's the man to do it, so be it. I think he may be a bit old school conservative though.