Editorial 2
Tories: the unspeakable versus the unelectable
GO ON, admit it! You secretly wanted Ann Widdecombe to fight for – and win – the Tory leadership, to ensure that the crisis-ridden Party remains for at least another five years in a twilight world of unelectability. We all did.
For socialists, the prospect of total meltdown of the Tory Party as a political vehicle for the aspirations of British capitalism has a real appeal. It is something of a relief to know that it is not just the Labour and trade union movement that is bogged down in a long-running crisis of political leadership.
Not only would a Widdecombe win represent the near extinction of the party that brought us Margaret Thatcher and introduced us to the politics of neo-liberalism, but it would also clear the way for Tony Blair to continue the transformation of New Labour into an open and undisguised party of big business – offering the Socialist Alliance a better chance of winning support in the unions and more disaffected Labour activists.
As we go to press it seems that Widdecombe has thought the better of a doomed challenge and is offering her support to anyone who will stand against front-runner Michael Portillo, the bookies’ favourite, and the first to declare himself a candidate.
But despite Portillo’s latest unconvincing attempt to ditch his Thatcherite past and groom himself as a new, "socially inclusive", liberal figure, the Tories are still likely to be faced with the prospect of a Hobson’s choice between the unspeakable and the unelectable.
Possible contenders appear to include the bigots’ favourite, Iain Duncan Smith, sponsored by Lord Tebbit as a "normal person with a wife and children" in contrast to Portillo’s admitted gay past.
A fanatical Eurosceptic Thatcherite, who refused to join John Major’s government, and who advocates both little England and "small state" policies, Duncan Smith would isolate the Tories still further, both from the voters who want improved public services, and from the sections of big business that want Britain to join the Euro.
Another macho challenger thought likely to throw his hat into the ring of the preliminary leadership contest is the little-known former Europe minister David Davis, who appears to have taken naturally to life in shadow politics.
Davis, who raised money to pay his way through university by joining the SAS reservists, has been given the dubious distinction of a glowing endorsement by Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s Director of Communications. Campbell has described the obscure, explosives-trained Davis as a D’Artagnan-style figure, "dynamic, serious, clever, tough, and dashing".
Journalists who have worked out who Davis is have not yet been able to identify his political stance, or why he would offer himself as an alternative.
It has even been suggested that Tory party chair Michael Ancram, a languid Scots aristocrat, could come through the middle of the field in the style of Jim Hacker in "Yes, Prime Minister", to play the role of a latter-day Alec Douglas-Home, who led the Tories into their disastrous 1964 election defeat.
But the biggest question of all is whether the only other well-known Tory, former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, will chance his arm and run as a pro-European alternative, knowing that he is far more popular among the Tory ranks in the constituencies than he is among the fanatically Euro-sceptic ranks of Tory MPs.
Clarke is described as on the "left" of the Conservative Party, but he is the man who brought us the Private Finance Initiative, and the NHS internal market, and as Chancellor tightened the financial screws on health, education and social security. He has never denied an interest in running, but is apparently holding back any decision until next month, leaving the other hopefuls to sweat it out.
If he were to win the leadership it is certain that the parliamentary Tory party would be convulsed with long-running internecine battles, which will also leave Blair a free hand to strengthen his links with big business.
What is clear from the election results is that as Blair’s New Labour Party prepares to mount the campaign to take Britain into the Euro, with the eager support of the biggest multinationals and key sectors of British capitalism, and sets out its stall as the new party of business, the Conservative Party and its ageing membership (average age 64) – have failed to sell Hague’s Thatcherite line of xenophobia and implausible tax cuts.
Whoever takes Hague’s place in one of the country’s least desirable sits vac, the Tories are facing a massive identity crisis.
But as Labour steps in to take over the Tories’ historic role, the question is whether the left can sustain and deepen the remarkable unity it achieved in the Socialist Alliance campaign, and continue to project an attractive alternative platform of policies in order to reach out and win far wider layers of trade unionists and Labour supporters, who will increasingly find they have been left behind in Blair’s dash to the right.
Stop press - Clarke runs! The unspeakable tobacco magnate and hammer of the unions is going for it!