LONDON - David Cameron's emergence as the front-runner to take the Conservative Party out of the opposition benches received another boost today with former deputy Prime Minister Lord Heseltine pulling his weight behind the 39-year-old rookie saying that he had an "elusive quality that encapsulates people."
Lord Heseltine had previously cast his favor with Kenneth Clarke for the leadership stakes and Mr. Clarke is now refusing to say who will get his vote in one of the most fascinating contests that has engaged Tory leadership in recent times. “Let’s dream a new generation of Conservative dreams,” Cameron told the party conference. And it is this vagueness that could net him the Tory leadership.
Mr. Cameron has said that the party must stop feeling that the voters got it wrong in the last three elections, "There is an attitude among some that all the Conservative Party has to do is to shout a bit louder and hate modern Britain a bit more and everyone will come rushing to the standard - and I just think that is not part of the problem; that is the problem," he stressed.
David Davis is also going the full throttle in trying to secure the votes of 300,000 party members. He compared himself with Cameron by saying, "David Cameron gives a lot more emphasis to the reform of the party. I give a lot more emphasis to the reform of the country."
His rapid emergence has now put the ball back into the Labour Party's court with analysts feeling that if any younger candidate were to come along, Chancellor Gordon Brown could face a tougher challenge. David Miliband, the 40-year-old communities minister is being seen as an alternative to Brown. Betting firm William Hill said that there has been an increased interest betting wise in Miliband.
Posted
on : Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:05 GMT | General News
By : Salim Patel
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