Three in fray as Tory race hots up

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JULY 13. The long drawn-out contest for the Tory leadership entered an interesting phase today with two of the five contestants dropping out of the race leaving it wide open for Mr. Michael Portillo, Mr. Kenneth Clarke and Mr. Ian Duncan Smith, the Thatcherite ``dark horse'' who could yet pip his more charismatic rivals at the post.

The two who are out of the fray are Mr. Michael Ancram who had quit as the party's chairman to contest as a `unity' candidate, and Mr. David Davis, an obscure figure for whom it was his first major outing and he impressed as long as he stayed. The party MPs would finally select two candidates and pass their names on to the nearly 300,000 grassroots workers for them to pick one. Two ballots have already been held and still the picture is not clear. After the second ballot on Thursday, Mr. Ancram was eliminated as he got the least number of votes, and this morning Mr. Davis voluntarily dropped out. He announced his support to Mr. Duncan Smith, the only representative of the Tory Right in the field now, but he made it clear that he was not sure if other MPs in his camp would do likewise. Interestingly, neither Mr. Portillo nor Mr. Clarke, two of the best known Tory faces and early favourites of bookies and political pundits, is certain of his fate. There are now even doubts if both would be able to make it to the MPs' shortlist as had been `predicted' earlier, and suddenly it looks that one of them may have to yield to Mr. Duncan Smith. In Thursday's ballot, Mr. Portillo got the highest number of votes, followed by Mr. Duncan Smith and then Mr. Clarke. Another ballot is due next Tuesday and more would be held until only two candidates are left.

While Mr. Clarke expects to get most of the 35 votes, which have become surprlus after the exit of Mr. Ancram and Mr. Davis, this is not how others see it. Since both Mr. Davis and Mr. Ancram were seen as establishment figures, a large chunk of their votes are expected to go to Mr. Duncan Smith. He needs less than 15 votes to make it to the shortlist, Mr. Portillo needs six and Mr. Clarke as many as 17. Feverish lobbying by supporters of Messrs Portillo, Clarke and Duncan Smith is on, and the weekend is expected to see what one newspapers described as a lot of ``arm- twisting in Westminster's corridors''.

The new rules under which the elections are being held have been criticised for limiting the choice for grassroots workers and there has been a demand that the old system of one- man-one vote should be restored. Under that system, MPs did not shortlist two candidates and instead the entire party including ordinary workers directly elected their boss.The problem with the new procedure, it is stated, is that even if ordinary workers don't like any of the two shortlisted candidates they must contend with one of them.

In the past two days, Mr. Portillo has faced some rough weather - first over The Guardian revelations that he did not disclose large sums which raised for the party through public speaking engagements, and then over a Daily Mail survey which shows that majority of grassroots activists do not want him because of his `liberal' views, particularly on gay rights. Mr. Clarke, on the other hand, continues to be viewed with scepticism for his pro- Europe views in a party which is deeply Europhobic.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : FBI launches probe into Condit's past
Next     : Wahid renews emergency threat