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The 2005 Conservative leadership election was announced by party leader Michael Howard on May 6 2005 , when he announced that he would be stepping down as leader in the near future. However, he stated that he would not depart until a review of the rules for the leadership election had been conducted, given the high level of dissatisfaction with the current system. Ultimately, no changes were made and the election is proceeding with the existing rules, which were introduced in 1998 . The contest formally began on 7 October , 2005 , when the Chairman of the 1922 Committee , Sir Michael Spicer , received a letter of resignation from Michael Howard. Nominations for candidates opened immediately, and closed on 13 October . The first round of voting amongst Conservative Members Of Parliament took place on 18 October and Kenneth Clarke was eliminated (38 votes) leaving David Davis (62 votes), David Cameron (56 votes) and Liam Fox (42 votes) to go through to the second ballot on October 20 . In the second ballot, Liam Fox was eliminated (51 votes), leaving David Cameron (90 votes) and David Davis (57 votes) to go through to a postal ballot. The ballot, whose result was declared on December 6 , saw David Cameron win a large majority on a 77% turnout. {Link without Title} . The end result was;
Total number of valid ballots - 198,844 RESULTS The first ballot of MPs was held on 18 October . The results were announced, ten minutes later than expected, at 5:30 pm by Sir Michael Spicer, the Chairman of the 1922 Committee. There were no abstentions, with all 198 Conservative members voting. Cameron, Davis and Fox went through to the second ballot held on October 20 . The results were announced by the Chairman of the 1922 Committee at 5:30pm. There were no abstentions, with all 198 Conservative members voting. Cameron and Davis went through to the runoff vote of the Conservative Party's 300,000 members. The votes were counted on . OTHER POSSIBLE CANDIDATES The following Conservatives previously announced they were standing but subsequently withdrew from the contest:
The following prominent Conservatives formally ruled themselves out of the running:
Edward Leigh and John Redwood were both cited by prominent media organisations as potential candidates, but the deadline for nominations passed without a submission from either individual. THE RULES OF THE CONTEST Much speculation surrounded the review of the rules, as it is widely estimated that the system eventually adopted could prove a help or hindrance to particular candidates with strong support in certain areas of the party. However, on September 27th , 2005, the proposal to change the rules was rejected. {Link without Title} The current rules Under the rules adopted in 1998 , under which both Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard were elected, a leadership contest can be initiated either by the incumbent leader resigning or by the Parliamentary Party passing a Vote Of No Confidence in the present leader. The latter is called if 15% of the Parliamentary Party write to the Chairman of the 1922 Committee . If a vote of no confidence is passed, a leadership election is called and the incumbent is barred from standing in it. The returning officer is the Chairman of the 1922 Committee . Candidates must be nominated by any two MPs taking the Conservative whip. If only one candidate stands (as happened in the 2003 Leadership Election ) then they are elected ''nem con'' (uncontested). If two candidates stand, then the election immediately proceeds to a ballot of all members of the party. If more than two candidates stand, then MPs first hold a series of ballots to reduce the number to two. On each round, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. (If two or more candidates tie for last place, as happened in the 2001 Contest , then the ballot is repeated, and if the tie remains, all bottom-placed candidates are eliminated.) Candidates may also withdraw between rounds (this also happened in the 2001 contest). The series of ballots by MPs continues until there are only two candidates remaining. At this point the all-member ballot begins; this lasts for some weeks. To be eligible to vote, an individual has to have been a paid-up member of the party for at least three months. The candidate who tops the poll is declared leader. Criticisms of the current rules Many criticisms have been made of the rules, in light of some problems encountered in previous elections. Amongst the concerns raised are: =Technical
=Structural Many have criticised the system as having being devised to try to answer those who believed that a leader should have the backing of the bulk of MPs, to answer demands for ordinary party members to have a say, and to allow for the removal of a failing leader. It is possible for a candidate to reach the final two with the support of barely a third of MPs in the final ballot (or even less if the rival candidate has overwhelming support in the Parliamentary Party) and then be elected leader by the party members. Conversely, they are then vulnerable to being removed as leader by the MPs. Some have argued that party members are unrepresentative of the electorate at large and are prone to elect a leader reflecting their views rather than those of the country at large. Proposed new rules In late May 2005 a proposed new system was formally circulated by the party {Link without Title} . The rules were as follows:
The proposed new rules would have given MPs the final say on the leader and replaced the all member ballot with a vote at the National Convention of senior party figures. Both this and the caps on spending limits were widely believed to be most likely to harm the chances of David Davis. The proposed changes led to disputes and were rejected on 27th September 2005. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4285182.stm TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Election Timetable
PARTY CONFERENCE At the 2005 Conservative Party conference, each of the five announced candidates at the time was allowed a 20 minute speech. This was seen by many as the start of the leadership campaign by each of the candidates and their speeches were closely analysed by party members and the media. Many felt that front-runner (at the time of his speech) David Davis had performed rather poorly, while the speeches of Kenneth Clarke, Liam Fox, Sir Malcom Rifkind and David Cameron were much better. This led to a rapid change in The Odds of the five candidates on the Betting Markets - on the morning of the 6th October, David Davis was the clear leader and David Cameron third, but by the evening of the same day the two had swapped places. By the end of the conference, David Cameron had become the front runner, with Ken Clarke and David Davis closely behind. The conference was also seen as similar to the Conservative's 1963 conference, where there was also a race to become leader. POLLING The Sunday Times and YouGov polled 746 members of the Conservative Party just after the conference. The results can be found here . The poll showed support slipping away from David Davis and Ken Clarke and moving to Liam Fox and David Cameron instead. The Daily Telegraph and YouGov polled 665 members of the Conservative Party just after the first ballot, where Clarke was eliminated leaving only three contestants. The poll showed that 59 percent backed David Cameron, against 18 percent for Liam Fox and 15 per cent for Mr Davis. This poll showed support for Mr Cameron being strong amongst the grassroots of the party on the eve of the final (membership) ballot. In a YouGov poll published on November 12th, more than two-thirds of party members look set to vote for the younger candidate as party leader. Around 68 per cent of voters who have already returned their ballot papers have opted for Mr Cameron, while 66 per cent of those still to vote say they are likely to choose him over Shadow Home Secretary David Davis. 57 per cent of those still to vote said they may change their mind between now and the postal ballot deadline on December 5. Hague discloses support Former Conservative leader William Hague was revealed to be backing David Cameron to become the next party leader when he declared his support in an article written for the News Of The World on Sunday 13th November. RESULT The final decision made by the 253,600 Tory members and announced on 6 December was a victory for David Cameron. 198,844 voted, 134,446 for Cameron, 64,398 for Davis. Mr Cameron said his party now had to change how they looked, felt and behaved. He set out core challenges for his leadership: creating a full-bodied economic policy which went beyond just tax; giving freedom to those on the frontline in public services; national and international security; and ensuring social justice by strengthening the voluntary sector. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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