Michael Howard says only an economic slump can help Tories to win |
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Sun, 02 Oct 2005 13:05
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LONDON: Conservatives can return to power in Britain only if there is an economic slump, says outgoing Tory leader Michael Howard. He told Britain's newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, that it is hard for his party to win when people are in general "content" and that the state of the economy was crucial to unseat the Labour Party in the next general election.
His remarks came on the eve of the annual convention of the Tories at Blackpool next week where a succession plan is going to be outlined. He told the paper that, "the fact is that it is difficult -- may not be impossible, but difficult -- for an opposition to win an election when most people feel relatively content".
Though the chancellor of the exchequer Gordon Brown has implied the need to lower his growth forecasts for the year, Howard says the situation is not yet bad enough for his party to benefit.
Howard, who chose to step down in the wake of the party's election defeat, said: "I believe strongly that people ought to be accountable. There is a big feeling that there is a lack of accountability in politics. In other walks of life you fail and you lose your job but it does not happen in politics. I was fighting to win and we didn't win. We screwed up."
He said he stood by his decision to step down, which led to a leadership contest that could last seven months before a winner is announced. The annual conference will see five candidates who are in the run -- shadow home secretary David Davis, former chancellor Kenneth Clarke, shadow foreign secretary Liam Fox, shadow education secretary David Cameron and shadow work and pensions secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind -- profess their plans for the party. The person who will lead the party will be decided on the basis of opinions from the 300,000 grassroots members. The nominations officially open on 10 October.
Howard also justified the decision to fight the election concentrating on immigration, taxation and crime. He did not agree with the modernisers who argued that the party had lost three elections because they are seen as "nasty".
Meanwhile, there is scathing opposition to the candidature of Kenneth Clarke. Several leading Tory donors openly said he is "totally unacceptable" and a threat to the party unity.
The rightwing Cornerstone group of MPs issued a pamphlet arguing that the leadership race has proved a disappointment and calling for a flat rate of tax, renegotiation of EU membership and reform of the tax system to benefit families.
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