Rifkind: I can handle Brown
Malcolm Rifkind believes he has the experience to provide the Tories with a “credible alternative” to Gordon Brown if the chancellor does become prime minister.
He has known Mr Brown for 30 years and, while recognising his formidable abilities, claims he would have a good idea of which buttons to press if he was elected Conservative party leader.
“I admire his strengths but I can exploit his vulnerabilities by showing how to hold him accountable,” he said in an interview with The Times, ahead of a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies later today.
Sir Malcolm applauded the chancellor’s managing of the economy, and said that the fact that, by the next election, he would have held that job for ten years and the job of prime minister for two, made him a “big beast” that could well scupper the Tories’ hopes.
But he believes he could go some way to unsettling Mr Brown, saying: “He is a bully, he is arrogant.
“He has a voracious appetite for policy and detail but once you get inside that carapace and prick the balloon he begins to bluster and splutter.”
Insisting he had the popular support to win Michael Howard’s job, Sir Malcolm held up his own position as former defence and foreign secretary as one of his biggest trump cards.
“We have to convince the country that our leader is a credible alternative prime minister for national and international reasons. For those of us who have served in senior positions, that is an asset,” he told the newspaper.
