Candidates Jockey for Leadership of Conservative Party

LONDON — Britain’s Conservative Party, one of the most enduring and successful political movements in the democratic world, on Tuesday began a long and uncertain road back from electoral defeat, internal division and a reputation tarnished by scandal.

Favorite Kenneth Clarke led a five-man race to elect a party leader as successor to the defeated John Major but fell far short of victory in first-round balloting.

Two of the five candidates later withdrew, leaving a reduced field for a second-round vote next week as Conservatives seek a united and credible opposition to the political juggernaut of new Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Labor Party.

All day, the 164 Conservative members of Parliament who survived the Blair avalanche May 1 filed into wood-paneled Committee Room 14 in the House of Commons to chart a new course. The party ruled Britain for 18 years, first under the indomitable Margaret Thatcher and then in her fierce free-marketeer image.

The May 1 election not only toppled the Tories from power but also left them rudderless and squabbling. Thus far, they have mounted no serious opposition to Blair’s government, which is steamrolling a broad range of new policies through Parliament.

The most divisive issue among the Tory leadership candidates is Britain’s future role in Europe.

Clarke, 56, who was Major’s finance minister and stands on the left wing of the party, got 49 votes Tuesday. The only one of the five candidates to support Britain’s eventual membership in a common European currency, Clarke was also the choice of local party leaders and activists in a straw poll announced Tuesday.

“The Conservative Party should now unite to fight Labor. I intend to seek to broaden my appeal further by setting out how I intend to lead this party on an inclusive basis,” said Clarke, calling for a party that “must attract and draw on the talents of every strand of opinion within the conservative tradition.”

Tuesday’s runner-up, with 41 votes, was moderate William Hague, 36, a former secretary for Wales in Major’s government. Hague ran better than expected and said he is optimistic about his chances.

“It was a very good result. . . . I think it clearly puts me in a position to win,” Hague said. He opposes current plans for monetary union, saying Britain should “be in Europe but not governed by Europe.”

Three right-wing Tories ran last, undercutting one another’s support. John Redwood, 45, who challenged Major unsuccessfully for the party leadership last year, got 27 votes to finish third. Redwood flatly opposes even eventual British membership in a single European currency.

Peter Lilley, a former social security secretary, got 24 votes. Michael Howard, the former home (internal affairs) secretary, got 23.

Lilley and Howard both said they were pulling out of the contest and backing Hague. One bookmaker immediately made Hague the favorite to win the contest.

The need for unity is manifest: Party membership is down to 300,000 nationwide. The local Conservative Club in the district that Major represents is being forced to close for want of funds.

What the candidates agree on is the urgent Conservative need to recover from Blair the middle ground on bread-and-butter issues such as health and education. They must also rebuild a centrist party from the bottom up, first recovering local government offices lost to Labor in the election that gave Blair a historic 179-seat majority in the 659-member House of Commons.

A simple majority wins in next Tuesday’s second ballot. If there is no winner, a third-round vote will be head-to-head between the two leading finishers in ballot two.