Shadow minister:Tories want to take time over leadership
James Cartlidge says the Conservative Party will take its time over deciding who the next leader should be and hopes for a “hustings party conference” in the autumn. The shadow defence secretary also calls for the party to conduct itself “in a dignified fashion” and “come together” over the issue. Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00We want to take our time, and the reason for that is because we've had such a huge defeat.
00:05We need to look closely at what happened.
00:07We need to discuss it as a party with our members.
00:09And then when we elect a new member, a new leader, they need to be put through their
00:13paces.
00:14So what I want to see is what I would call a Hustings party conference, where we have
00:17the candidates, they are put through their paces, questions from members, questions from
00:21politicians, et cetera, and hopefully that way we can decide upon our next leader who
00:27can then form a proper, credible alternative to Labour.
00:30I would hope that we will conduct ourselves in a dignified fashion, as you say.
00:35It's certainly true that on the doorstep, another big issue for people who are unhappy
00:38with our party was what they saw as disunity and bickering and so on.
00:42So we need to come together, and I think it's what, you know, we must still have robust
00:46debate.
00:47There's nothing wrong with having debate between leadership contenders.
00:49That's how you work out who your best candidate is.
00:52You put to them those tough questions, as you've been putting to me, but nevertheless,
00:56as you say, conduct it in a dignified, unified fashion.
00:59We gain nothing from blue on blue.
01:01On the contrary, when it comes to it, you know, when we get to the next election, we
01:06will only be successful if the public see in us a credible, united alternative to the
01:11Labour Party.
01:12Whoever comes forward is going to have to think outside the box, because at the end
01:16of the day, we've got to be broader in our appeal.
01:18Where are our policies going to be on health care, on housing, et cetera, perhaps issues
01:21we didn't, you know, we weren't as up-front about in the general election campaign.
01:26That will be the crucial territory to regain those centre-ground votes, which will be crucial
01:30to us getting back into power.