Tory leader under fire from deputy
“Quiet man,” Iain Duncan Smith, will need to beef up his game if he is take on the Government and win over disgruntled delegates, according to David Davis, deputy leader.
Ahead of his party conference in Blackpool, Mr Davis told the FT the Tories needed “more aggression” to successful oppose Labour’s dominance.
“I think more aggression is the order of the day, particularly on public services. This is the time when we have got to make these arguments stick,” Mr Davis said.
He called on Mr Duncan Smith to tie the Conservatives to a traditional tax-cutting agenda.
“I would hope that we would go into it [the next election] aiming to get a lower tax burden at the end than at the beginning [of the parliament].”
This could be Duncan Smith’s last conference as leader if he fails to convince the party faithful that he is the man to lead the Tories.
Tory MPs are increasingly frustrated that their party has failed to eat into Labour’s popularity despite Mr Blair’s summer of discontent over Iraq, Dr David Kelly and the lost byelection in Brent East, which went to the Lib Dems. The Tories fell from second to third place in the constituency.
Should a leadership election be called ahead of the next general election some consider it likely that David Davis or home affairs spokesman Oliver Letwin would throw their proverbial hats into the ring.
The Tory leader has been accused by his own MPs of failing to exploit the Government’s difficulties over Iraq.
In an interview to be broadcast on Sunday on GMTV’s Sunday Programme, Douglas Hurd, former Tory foreign secretary, will beseech Mr Duncan Smith to work with major players in the party such as Kenneth Clarke, Michael Heseltine and Michael Portillo, to bolster his leadership.
He will say: “I think he needs to get in touch with, and make a compact with, the big boys who are not in the shadow Cabinet.
“He [IDS] doesn’t pretend to be anything else, so we have a chance on that ground, but there is still a lot to do. The party is still on the runway.”
