Davis rejects right-wing label
The bookies’ favourite for the Conservative Party leadership has rejected suggestions that he is the right-wing candidate.
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has not yet declared his candidacy for the leadership, although he is widely expected to be the standard bearer for the right of the party.
Other more liberal Tories looking to stand include Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Alan Duncan – although there are a host of other names being banded around Westminster.
Earlier Tim Yeo – himself a potential candidate – told the Westminster Hour that he thought there were too many candidates on the left.
Mr Yeo predicted the numbers would fall, saying: “I think by the time the House rises for the summer recess in the middle of July, we will find the field has narrowed down probably to a maximum of three candidates by then.
“It would be helpful if the plethora of would-be leaders around at the moment can coalesce around one person. I think that will give us a better chance of a good contest in the interests of the party and the country.”
Speaking this morning to Today Mr Davis denied that he represented an extreme wing of the party saying: “I am not sure what left or right means.”
Mr Davis said that many of Labour’s policies were conventionally right-wing.
“I have been Shadow Home Secretary for the last 18 months or more and I have had to defend jury trials, I have had to defend the presumption of innocence, I have had to defend the right of trial before punishment.”
He acknowledged that the Conservatives had lost electoral ground among certain sectors of the populace, notably women and the middle classes.
Mr Davis added: “Clearly we have to do something about people’s perceptions. The public are not daft; they are not going to show a new package and new image and a new brand. We have got to mean it. We have got to come up with policies that will appeal to those groups.”
Current leader Michael Howard has pledged to stay on as leader until Christmas, despite calls from some elements of the party for him to step down during the summer.
