Cameron leads the way in Tory leadership race

David Cameron is the favourite to succeed Michael Howard as Conservative party leader, as Kenneth Clarke became the first candidate to be eliminated from the contest.

The former Chancellor received 38 votes from fellow MPs, the least number of votes, in the contest’s first ballot. David Davis topped the poll with 62 votes, although 67 MPs had originally declared support for him. David Cameron came second with 56 votes and Dr Liam Fox got 42.

It is the third time that Mr Clarke, 65, has been unsuccessful in his bid to gain leadership of the Tories, having stood in 1997 and 2001. Speaking after the ballot, Mr Clarke said he was “obviously disappointed” but said that he thought he had “contributed to the debate in a positive way”. He said that he thought the party were now looking for a younger leader.

The race is now on to woo Mr Clarke’s supporters ahead of the second ballot, which will take place on Thursday. It has been speculated that many of Mr Clarke’s supporters may now back Mr Cameron, enabling him to overtake David Davis – initially the front-runner in the contest – at the second ballot.

The Shadow Education Secretary confirmed that he would be talking to Mr Clarke’s supporters to try and encourage them to support him. He also described his result as “better than I expected”.

One former Clarke supporter, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, has already declared his support for 39-year-old Mr Cameron. Former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm, who had also been an initial contender in the leadership contest, declared: “The more I’ve seen and heard of him, the more impressed I’ve been by his ability to lead.”

Dr Fox, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, polled more votes than expected. He said that he had performed “well above predictions”. It has been speculated that some of the more right-wing MPs had switched their vote from Mr Davis to Dr Fox in a bid to oust Mr Clarke, whose pro-European views famously clashed with the more right-wing elements of the party.

Speaking after the vote, Mr Davis said that he thought there had been some tactical voting. The Shadow Home Secretary said that he thought there would be “a lot of movement of votes” before the second ballot, but remained confident that he would not lose support, insisting it was “extremely unlikely” that any of his supporters would switch their votes.

The second MPs ballot will take place on Thursday, when another candidate will be eliminated. The two remaining contenders will face the final vote, by all members of the Conservative Party, in December.

The new Conservative leader will be announced on December 6.

Michael Howard, who formally resigned at the recent Tory party conference, will continue as acting party leader until the new leader is announced.

(KMcA/SP)