Date published: 2005/08/30
The BBC says:
Former chancellor Ken Clarke is to make a third attempt to win the leadership of the Conservative Party.
He has announced his candidacy in the Daily Mail newspaper.
The Rushcliffe MP's pro-euro views were blamed for his defeats in 1997 and 2001, but he says his enthusiasm for UK euro membership has now cooled.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who intends to stand, welcomed the news. Colleague Tim Yeo said Mr Clarke, 65, would be a match for Gordon Brown and Tony Blair.
Announcing his intention to stand, Mr Clarke told the Daily Mail: "I am determined that Britain should be governed better than it has been under New Labour.
"I am horrified by a government run on a basis of spin. The political health of Britain has deteriorated very sharply. The Conservative Party must do something about it, and I am the man to do it."
Mr Clarke lost out on the leadership to William Hague in a vote of MPs in 1997 and in 2001 he came second to Iain Duncan Smith, in a run-off decided by grass roots Tories.
Clarke is easily the most electable Tory but the Tories have long since given up worrying about being electable, and Clarke is not very likely to be elected leader. If he were elected leader, the Tory Party would end up being left of (New) Labour on many issues.
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