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Conservative Idol

by | 6th, October 2005

‘IT’S another day of Conservative Idol, the beauty contest to find the next leader of the Tory party. And today the papers look at David Davis.

Like a contestant on TV’s Pop Idol, Davis looked a dead cert for victory until he opened his mouth. He’s got the hair. He’s got the Right-wing viewpoint. But he’s got as much charisma as, well, Iain Duncan Smith’s cough.

When push came to show, and pre-show favourite Davis was asked to perform on the stage at Blackpool, the result was, as the Telegraph says in its headline, “lacklustre”.

MPs tell the paper that they were “under-whelmed” by his speech, which was at best “adequate”. One Tory delegate invokes the spirit of another reality talent show and says Davis lacks the “X factor”.

Davis is in danger of losing out to his competitors. David Cameron has more style. Ken Clarke has more vigour. Even Right-winger Liam Fox, who yesterday delivered his vision of a rosy future under his command, deftly used his speech to move closer to the Tory centre and so broaden his appeal. Malcolm Rifkind remains the rank outsider, but is a solid and reliable performer.

Davis’s star is on the wane. As the Telegraph’s Andrew Gimson says in his sketch, Davis’s call for the Tories to “walk tall again”, would be better phrased as “walk tall, but speak short”.

“It was not so much a leadership speech,” writes Ann Treneman in the Times, “as a speech that led nowhere.” She says Davis’s furtiveness on stage make him look like “some sort of institutionalised bear”.

Davis is a Tory big beast waking up this morning with a very sore head…’



Posted: 6th, October 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink