Howard announces formal resignation
Michael Howard will formally resign as Tory party leader at the end of next month’s annual conference, he has confirmed today.
This is in line with the timetable set when he announced his resignation after May’s general election defeat, and puts paid to speculation that he would step down earlier if his plans for new leadership election rules were rejected.
MPs and party activists will vote on the new proposals – which would give the final say on who the Tory leader was to members of parliament – on September 27th, and many believed that a defeat would make Mr Howard’s position untenable.
But today he told London’s Evening Standard: “I will resign probably immediately after the party conference. The leadership election will then take place.”
A Conservative spokeswoman rejected suggestions that deputy leader Michael Ancram would take over as interim leader, insisting that Mr Howard would carry on until his replacement was elected.
If the leadership proposals are rejected next week, it could take months for the party to choose a new leader. However, if they are passed, elections could take place by mid-November.
Announcing his resignation in May, Mr Howard said he would be too old at the next election to lead a party into a government, and would step down as soon as new rules to elect a leader were agreed.
“As I can’t fight the next election as leader of our party, I believe it’s better for me to stand aside sooner rather than later so that the party can choose someone who can,” he said.
Meanwhile, Conservative party chairman Francis Maude has said he would not rule out a coalition between his party and the Liberal Democrats after the next election.
Tory-Lib Dem alliances in councils across the country showed there was “no great drama” in such a coalition, he told The Independent.
“There’s no reason why that should be out of the question. If you end up with a hung parliament, there is either a minority government, which is unwieldy, or a coalition. You deal with what the electorate gives you,” he said.
However, Mr Maude insisted that the Conservatives were “clearly aiming to win the next election outright”, saying a hung parliament was only a “remote” possibility.
Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy has rejected outright suggestions of a coalition with the Tories, insisting his party would achieve power on their own.
