The race for the leadership of Britain's embattled Conservative Party began in earnest Sunday as the first of the leading contenders for the poisoned chalice threw her hat into the ring.
Ann Widdecombe, the opposition Conservative Party's formidable home affairs spokeswoman, said she was considering whether to stand.
Other assumed contenders, ranging from former chancellor Kenneth Clarke via finance spokesman Michael Portillo to former leader Margaret Thatcher's favourite Iain Duncan Smith, are expected to declare their hand over the coming days.
The party faces weeks and maybe months of turmoil pitting its pro-European, liberal wing against the majority eurosceptic Thatcherites.
Outgoing Tory leader William Hague fell on his sword Friday morning, hours after the party slid to its second successive landslide defeat at the hands of Prime Minister Tony Blair's ruling Labour.
"There are quite a lot of people who would like me to run," Widdecombe told BBC television.
"I've got to take soundings, see how wide that support is and consider what I would offer."
Widdecombe, 53, is the party's self-appointed moral guardian, tough on law and order and immigration -- she would detain asylum seekers automatically -- strong on family values and against the European single currency.
Such views make her hugely popular with the party's grass-roots but not so appealing to the wider public. Her image -- she has been cruelly dubbed "Doris Karloff" -- may also count against her in the television age.
Nevertheless, Widdecombe was the only senior Tory brave enough to put a head above the parapet at the weekend after the election humiliation.
The Tories are split on Europe like no other issue, but Widdecombe said she would want a cabinet taking in both the pro-euro and anti-euro camps.
"I would certainly want a very broad-based shadow cabinet," she said.
There were "extremely significant clever people who have done a lot for the country, not just for the party."
Her comment was seen as an appeal to Clarke, whose support for the single currency would probably scupper his chances of getting the top job -- LONDON (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
