Howard pledges tax cuts
Michael Howard has promised to cut taxes if elected both Conservative leader and then prime minister.
As yet Mr Howard is the only candidate to come forward for the party leadership following the ousting of Iain Duncan Smith. He has used a newspaper article to promise his party would cut taxes if elected.
Writing in a Sunday tabloid, Mr Howard claimed that communities would be enhanced as people felt they could do more for one another once they were paying less tax. However, unlike previous leader William Hague, he avoided setting an arbitrary figure or timescale for the promise.
While Mr Howard is unopposed, he has promised he will put his claim to the leadership up for approval by the party, and it appears he would be well supported if he did.
However, Tory MP John Bercow spoke on television yesterday to outline the importance of improving public services. He claimed this should be the Conservative priority and appeared to criticise an ‘obsession’ with tax cuts, though did not suggest either that Michael Howard suffers the obsession, or that tax cuts should be ruled out.
Mr Howard’s former Home Office colleague Anne Widdecombe has also written in The Independent this weekend, claiming that Mr Howard needs a broader agenda than that he had when Home Secretary.
Miss Widdecombe has promised to support any leader elected by the party, but she suggested that the likely new leader should ensure he has strong people in his cabinet to assuage his ‘juggernaut approach’.
Michael Howard has responded to Miss Widdecombe’s concerns on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme this morning.
While acknowledging his lack of popularity as Home Secretary, he suggested that he had learned lessons about the importance of winning ‘hearts and minds’
He said of the juggernaut description: “I don’t think it is perhaps as true today as it may have been in the past. One of the things I have learned is that it is a very good thing to listen to people a lot, to try to take into account as many views as you can before you make decisions.”
