PoliticsOctober 10, 2005 11:24 am
How do we feel about David Cameron ousting Ken Clarke for second place (behind David Davis) in the Conservative Party leadership contest?
My personal preference is Davis and Liam Fox in the final - a result that will have me celebrating for a week (scheduling the hangover into my diary even now). But Davis and Cameron means it’s not Davis and Clarke.
Although it’s a pity that one speech in a Party conference can have so much bearing on a leadership outcome - particularly when it seems that it was presentation skills wot won it rather than content - the silver lining must surely be that we hopefully won’t be electing our own version of Tony Blair.
But what if Cameron won…?
My fears on Cameron are two fold:
How Conservative is he?
Will the media destroy him once they get bored of him?
Comment by EU Serf — October 10, 2005 @ 12:48 pm
Pushing Clarke voters to go with Cameron seems like a much more solid idea than simply trying to throw eggs at the jovial beast.
Fox / Cameron seems like the best way to suit both ends of the party while having two electable representatives.
Gary, there is very little point in voting for a guy who can’t handle public speaking on his own platform. I think Davis is very good one to one with an interviewer, and that will probably get him a job on the BBC in time. But to have less charisma than Charles Kennedy is fatal for a potential leader. Content doesn’t matter. You can pick that up any time. Why do you think David Willets doesn’t win automatically? He is after all the organ grinder. But leadership is about the best monkey.
Comment by DE — October 10, 2005 @ 1:16 pm
DE,
Yes, well, I think you have a point. To win over the population you need a certain something. But I do believe if you make sense then, in time, people will get used to the idea that you’re not a great speaker and instead pay a bit of attention to what you actually say.
Conference speeches only happen once a year. Television interviews happen daily at times. That’s where he needs to be good and, as you say, Davis does generally do good tv.
Comment by Gary Monro — October 10, 2005 @ 2:13 pm
‘But I do believe if you make sense then, in time, people will get used to the idea that you’re not a great speaker and instead pay a bit of attention to what you actually say.’
Yep that worked a treat for Hague and IDS
Comment by GaffaUK — October 14, 2005 @ 1:38 pm