TELEGRAPH VIEW
3 JULY 2016 • 10:00PM
To her credit, Theresa May has rejected the idea – being touted by some of her supporters – of a “coronation” to obviate the need for a lengthy contest for the Conservative leadership. She cannot be seen trying to bypass the views of the 150,000 or so Tory party members who would be denied the opportunity to choose between two candidates for the job if MPs decide to rally behind only one.
Moreover, Mrs May is acutely aware that she was on the losing side in the referendum campaign and will have a more stable mandate if she can obtain the support of activists as well as MPs. In such a febrile atmosphere, however, anything is possible. It is feasible that one candidate will be far enough ahead by the end of the week for whoever else is left standing to reach terms for a coronation.
Would this be acceptable? To Brexiteers, the very idea that someone who supported Remain, however half-heartedly, should be the next Prime Minister is anathema. With Michael Gove damaged by his assassination of Boris Johnson, they appear to be gathering around Andrea Leadsom, the Energy Minister. And they are determined to have their fight before the members, not just MPs.
This is not just about Europe. It reflects a deeper ideological schism in the party of which EU membership is the most prominent fault-line. The Brexiteers agree with Mrs May that the next prime minister must be chosen on how he or she would deal the full range of policy issues, not just with the EU vote; but they consider her to be a continuation of a managerial style that Mr Cameron personified and which the party’s Right is determined to dish.
Politicians can become so enmeshed in their own world that they fail to see how what they are doing looks from the outside. Perversely, despite Labour’s travails, this may be a perilous time for the Tories if at a moment of great national uncertainty they are seen by voters to be indulging in an internal ideological dispute. The electoral consequences could be severe.
The great strength of the Conservative Party down the decades has been to provide stability and steadiness when the nation is in difficulty. There have been great transformative Tory administrations, such as Margaret Thatcher’s in the 1980s. But that was a response to chaos, not its harbinger. The Conservatives have often been characterised as the natural party of government. This week they must show the country that its reputation is justified.
Conservative leadership vote | No English men for first time in party's history
- The Conservative leadership vote will be the first in the party’s history not to include a single English man.
- All three of the men who entered the contest - Michael Gove, Liam Fox and Stephen Crabb - were born in Scotland, meaning that if one of them wins the contest they will be only the second Scottish Tory Prime Minister, after the Edwardian premier Arthur Balfour.
- One other Scotsman has led the party, Iain Duncan Smith, who was never prime minister, while Michael Howard, who led the party in opposition before David Cameron, is the only Welshman.
- Only two other people from outside England have led the party: Andrew Bonar Law, who was born in Canada, and the 1st Duke of Wellington, who was born in Ireland.
- Conservative leadership elections began in 1965, when Edward Heath was elected leader of the party. Before then the leader was chosen through a process of consultation within the party.
- There have been nine previous leadership contests, of which only eight went to a ballot. Michael Howard was unopposed when he was chosen in 2003.
- Every other Conservative Party leader since Heath has been English, with the exception of Iain Duncan Smith, who defeated four English-born contenders n the form of Kenneth Clarke, David Davis, Michael Ancram and Michael Portillo.
- When Margaret Thatcher became leader in 1975, she defeated Mr Heath, then saw off Englishman Anthony Meyer in a 1989 challenge.
