Picking The Wrong ‘Un
‘OH, Lord, if I must die today, please make it after close of play. For this I know if nothing more, I will not go, without the score.
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| More swing than Peter Snow |
Wipe that tear form your eye. John Major, for he is the writer of those poetic words, now published in the Times, was ever one to inspire strong emotions in our inner Edwinas.
And with cricket very much to the fore on Thursday England take on Australia in the Ashes decider and England on the up after years of defeat, the old Torys words are appropriate. If Englands cricketers can rise again, then why not the Tory party?
Well, there are many reasons why not – at least not yet. And the main one is that the party cannot even decide who should become its fifth leader in eight years this November. Nor how they should be selected.
Five days is long enough for a Test match, says the Timess leader, and six months is certainly long enough for a leadership contest.
Indeed. But the Tories are still debating how the leader should be chosen. Should the partys MPs or its members have the final say in choosing Michael Howards successor?
Or should we choose one member of the public at random and ask them to jab it into their favourite, or least awful, leadership contender. Could our system ever produce a worse result than Iain Duncan Smith?
The one flaw in our third way is that it would give the advantage to the easy-to-pin, full-figured Kenneth Clarke. He, as the Times says, is the preferred choice of nearly two thirds of Conservative association chairmen.
So if the rules remained unchanged, Clarke would most likely win. If, however they were to be altered, the Times is of the opinion that the laurels would go to David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, who, as the paper states, has the support of more MPs than his rivals.
It would appear to be a two horse race. Or sticking with the cricket theme, a battle between a beefy all-rounder and team player with the straight bat.
With John Major watching from the stands, and the Telegraph providing the spin…’
Posted: 7th, September 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
