Widdecombe slams Tory indecision
Ann Widdecombe has warned the Conservatives they must get on and pick a leader if they want to get anything done.
The MP for Maidstone and the Weald backs Kenneth Clarke in the forthcoming Tory leadership challenge, saying he is the only person who could win back voters.
Although he has yet to formally announce he is standing for the top job, she believes the former chancellor is the key to avoiding a fourth election defeat.
But Ms Widdecombe expressed her exasperation at her colleagues, asking if they really wanted to win and giving short shrift to the dozens of Tory MPs will not pin down who they want to lead their party.
“I don’t know who these wimps are who are too embarrassed to tell somebody politely that they are going to vote for somebody else. It’s what we’ve done since time immemorial,” she told BBC Radio Four’s World At One.
The real question, she said, was “who can win with the general public, not who can win in the Tory party”, adding: “Unless we get into government we can’t do anything about anything.”
Danny Finkelstein, William Hague’s former head of policy, was more generous towards the indecision of many Tory MPs, however, saying that people underestimate “the role that personal embarrassment plays in politics”.
“If someone you’ve worked with, are still going to work with in future, who you are very friendly with, asks you for support, it’s very difficult to tell them to their face that you are not going to,” he said.
“You can easily end up giving two or three friends the impression that you think they will be the ideal candidate.”
His comments came as a former loyal supporter of Mr Clarke, Ian Taylor, used the same programme to announce he is backing David Davis as the next Tory leader.
Mr Taylor said he has switched allegiances because he believes the party needs a firm foundation on the right of the political spectrum.
“The trouble with the party is that it’s changed a lot since 2001 when Ken last stood and sadly didn’t win,” he told World at One.
Mr Taylor said the party is now very different: “Unless you start to build the bridge to unite it firmly on the right hand bank, then frankly you are going to have a structure that will collapse quite quickly.”
