Up until now the leadership candidates have appeared determined to measure their words very carefully. Particular care has been taken to avoid very strong criticism of the three men that have led the party since 1997. In a very frank interview with The Sunday Telegraph Sir Malcolm Rifkind threw caution aside and savaged the party's recent history:
"The choice is whether we continue down the cul-de-sac of the last eight years or whether we choose an alternative conservative tradition... The last eight years have been deeply, deeply defective. There is no excuse that is convincing as to why a party that has been in opposition for eight years should be flat-lining in the way we are.... To have seen no increase in the Conservative share of the vote, despite eight years in opposition and despite the intense unpopularity of the Government, is indefensible."
Sir Malcolm encouraged the Tories to focus on "gut" issues of crime and public services. We should not focus on the "classic Right-wing Conservative issues" of, for example, asylum and Europe.
Sir Malcolm used the interview to reiterate his opposition to the Iraq war but, again, he chose much tougher and more direct language:
"I believe it was a wrong war, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons. The war was an extremely foolish and unnecessary one. The consequence has been to create a political vacuum in Iraq itself. Terrorists are operating within Iraq in a way we didn't have in the past, so the war has certainly assisted international terrorism in Iraq. If you destroy an existing regime - however evil it may be - you create a political vacuum."
Sir Malcolm identified his first priority as the need to reconnect the party with professional voters:
"I would spend the first 18 months bringing to the party the vast expertise of the country as a whole. We have to win over the professionals. We haven't done that in the past."
Click here to read the endorsement of Sir Malcolm written by Crispin Blunt MP for conservativehome.com.
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