Howard’s End
‘MICHAEL Howard makes his first speech to the Tory conference as party leader today with more people in the country believing in Father Christmas than his chances of making it to No.10.
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| Tony Blair’s secret weapon |
According to a BBC Newsnight poll quoted in the Telegraph, less than one in eight of the electorate think the 62-year-old will succeed Tony Blair.
Even among his own supporters, 65% think he will become the third Tory leader in a row to fail to become Prime Minister.
But if Howards chances of success at the ballot box next year are somewhere between slim and Posh Spice, then they are at least better than Robert Kilroy-Silks.
The Times says the UK Independence Partys chief backer Paul Sykes has withdrawn his support after the orange-tinted MEPs rant at the weekend.
Kilroy told the other cranks, xenophobes and Arab-loving former TV presenters at the partys conference (held in a traditional red phone box in Bristol) that his aim was to kill the Tory party, not give it a kiss of life.
Mr Sykes (who contributed half of the partys £2m fighting fund at this years European elections) was apparently enraged by this new tactic and, according to the Times, says the party has blown it.
He accuses Kilroy of putting his colossal ego before UKIPs political aim of withdrawal from the European Union which is a bit like accusing a leopard of preferring stripes to spots.
All of which comes as a great relief to the Tories, who are busy trying to woo back the UKIP vote with an even more strident anti-Brussels line than usual.
This was a tactic which of course served them so well in the elections of 1997 and 2001 and one which must have Tony Blair rubbing his hands in glee.
It certainly doesnt seem to have electrified even the party faithful the front-page picture in this mornings Guardian shows what one delegate thought of it all.
Slumped forward in his chair, he is sound asleep. Or maybe, like the party he supports, he is actually dead.’
Posted: 5th, October 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
