2001 Conservative Party leadership election (UK)

Last updated August 16, 2019

The 2001 Conservative Party leadership election was held after the British Conservative Party failed to make inroads into the Labour government's lead in the 2001 general election. Party leader William Hague resigned, and a leadership contest was called under new rules Hague had introduced. Five candidates stepped forward: Michael Ancram, David Davis, Kenneth Clarke, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Portillo.

The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, sometimes informally called the Tories, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom. The governing party since 2010, it is the largest in the House of Commons, with 311 Members of Parliament, and also has 238 members of the House of Lords, 4 members of the European Parliament, 31 Members of the Scottish Parliament, 11 members of the Welsh Assembly, 8 members of the London Assembly and 7,462 local councillors.

The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election on 1 May 1997, to elect 659 members to the House of Commons. Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the Labour Party was re-elected to serve a second term in government with another landslide victory, returning 413 of the 418 seats won by the party in the previous general election, a net loss of 5 seats, though with a significantly lower turnout than before—59.4%, compared to 71.3% at the previous election. Blair went on to become the first Labour Prime Minister to serve a consecutive full term in office. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media.

William Jefferson Hague, Baron Hague of Richmond, is a British Conservative politician and life peer. He represented Richmond, Yorkshire, as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 1989 to 2015 and was the Leader of the Opposition from 1997 to 2001. He was Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2010 to 2014 and was the Leader of the House of Commons from 2014 to 2015.

Candidates and their platforms

Ancram stood declaring that none of the other candidates were close to his form of Conservatism, as well as arguing that he was best placed to unite the party. As the party chairman for the previous three years, he was widely seen as the candidate who best represented a continuity in the direction of the Hague years.

Clarke had previously stood in the 1997 leadership election but had otherwise maintained a low profile in the subsequent four years. It was argued that his non-involvement in the party's election campaign meant that he was free from blame. His manifesto involved taking a softer line on the European Union, allowing a free vote on many issues, while concentrating heavily on the economy and public services.

The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km² (1,728,099 sq mi) and an estimated population of about 513 million. The EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where members have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. For travel within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. A monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002 and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency.

Davis was very much an outsider candidate, not having served on the front bench under Hague, though he had served as a junior Minister in the government of John Major. As Chairman of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee in the previous Parliament he had gained a good reputation at Westminster, and his relatively unknown profile among the electorate was argued to be an asset.

Sir John Major is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. He served as Foreign Secretary and then Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Thatcher Government from 1989 to 1990, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Huntingdon from 1979 until his retirement in 2001. Since the death of Margaret Thatcher in 2013, Major has been both the oldest and earliest-serving of all living former Prime Ministers.

Duncan Smith stood as the standard bearer of the Thatcherite wing of the party, arguing the need for the party to stick to its principles and take a hard line on the European Union, while making use of the talents of all sections of the party.

Portillo ran on a somewhat socially liberal manifesto, calling for the party to reform and reach out to groups not normally associated with the party, calling for greater involvement of women, ethnic minorities and homosexuals. His supporters, and the platform, were dubbed "Portilistas". Portillo was the first candidate to declare, and many commentators saw the contest as coming down to whether or not the party agreed with him as his platform proved deeply controversial in some quarters.^{[ citation needed ]}

Prominent Conservatives who did not stand

There were several prominent Conservative politicians who did not stand despite speculation by political commentators preceding the election:

Michael Howard, the former Home Secretary, had stood in the 1997 leadership election but subsequently withdrew from frontline politics and was not at this stage widely considered. He subsequently made a comeback, however, first as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and then as Leader from 2003.
Francis Maude, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, had been popular with the liberal wing of the party, but after his ally Portillo returned to Parliament the lead shifted. Maude instead ran Portillo's campaign.
John Redwood, who had stood in both the 1995 and 1997 leadership elections, initially declined to confirm his intentions but eventually decided not to run.
Malcolm Rifkind, the former Foreign Secretary, had been unsuccessful in his attempt to return to Parliament. Whilst the rules did not actually specify on paper that candidates had to be MPs, political realities meant that a non-MP was not a viable option. (It was because of this that Portillo did not stand in the 1997 leadership election.)
Ann Widdecombe, the Shadow Home Secretary, took preliminary soundings but found that despite being popular among the full party membership she had limited support in the Parliamentary Party, who voted in the initial rounds. As a result, she decided not to run.

Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne,, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet positions in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including Secretary of State for Employment, Secretary of State for the Environment and Home Secretary.

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Contest rules

The election was conducted by the 1922 Committee, with that committee's chairman serving as Returning Officer. As the outgoing Chairman, Sir Archie Hamilton, had stood down from Parliament at the election, no Returning Officer was available for some time until Sir Michael Spicer was elected. This led to calls for the job of Returning Officer to be reallocated in future.

The rules required MPs to vote in a succession of ballots, with the lowest-scoring candidate eliminated each time, until only two candidates remained. MPs could vote for only a single candidate, but could change their vote each time.

MPs' ballots

The first ballot proved problematic. The party rules made no provision for a tie. As a result, Michael Spicer ordered that a fresh ballot be held the next day and declared that if the tie prevailed then both lowest-scoring candidates would be eliminated. On the second ballot, Ancram was eliminated by virtue of placing last. Davis withdrew as the difference between him and the next candidate was greater than Ancram's votes. Both Davis and Ancram endorsed Duncan Smith. By a single vote Portillo was eliminated from the contest on the third ballot.^[1]

Candidate		First ballot: 10 July 2001		Second ballot: 12 July 2001		Third ballot: 17 July 2001
Candidate		Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Michael Portillo	49	29.5	50	30.1	53	32.0
	Iain Duncan Smith	39	23.5	42	25.3	54	32.5
	Kenneth Clarke	36	21.6	39	23.6	59	35.5
	Michael Ancram	21	12.7	17	10.2	Eliminated
	David Davis	21	12.7	18	10.8	Withdrew
Turnout		166	100	166	100	166	100

Criticisms

The MP-only stage of the contest attracted much criticism. Many questioned the validity of MPs eliminating the candidates, potentially denying the ordinary members the opportunity to vote for a favourite candidate (Ann Widdecombe declined to run because she believed she would not reach the last round). Others questioned how it could be claimed that the eventual winner could be assured of support among MPs (the argument often given for previous elections being conducted by MPs only and now for holding these initial rounds) as in the final round each had attracted the support of only a third of the Parliamentary Party. The potential for tactical voting also came in for question. On more technical grounds, the lack of provision of a tie and the delay in appointing a returning officer also sparked concerns, with the former point also leading to ridicule from political opponents.^{[ citation needed ]}

Membership vote

Duncan Smith and Clarke's names went forward to the full party membership in a three-month contest that was at times acrimonious. The closing date for ballots was September 11,^[2] but due to the September 11 attacks in the United States, the announcement of the result was delayed until September 13.^[3] Iain Duncan Smith emerged as winner with over 60% of the vote, although without a clear majority among MPs, which many believe^[4] hampered the inexperienced leader and led to the events which saw Michael Howard replace him in 2003.

Membership ballot: 11 September 2001
Candidate		Votes	%
	Iain Duncan Smith	155,933	60.7
	Kenneth Clarke	100,864	39.3
Turnout		256,797	N/A
Iain Duncan Smith elected

Legacy

In hindsight, Iain Duncan Smith's leadership was widely regarded as a disaster for the Conservatives, with the party's poll ratings declining to under 30% at times. After just two years as leader of the Conservative Party, Smith lost a confidence vote amongst Conservative MPs and was replaced as leader by Michael Howard. Howard went on to lose the 2005 General Election, improving on William Hague's performance in 2001 but still falling some way short of the 209 MPs Labour picked up in their disastrous 1983 campaign. Howard announced he was to resign the leadership, but first he would attempt to reform the electoral system to reduce the role for the rank-and-file party membership (he failed in this).

In the subsequent leadership election, David Cameron was elected as Conservative Party leader: although he had failed in his own campaign, commentators have since argued that Portillo's run in 2001 created the conditions under which his reformist agenda was able to succeed four years later.^[5] By this point, however, Portillo himself had retired from Parliament, frustrated with party politics.

Cameron returned the party to government at the 2010 general election as the head of a Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition. In this government, Duncan Smith was appointed Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Clarke was appointed Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. Cameron subsequently won a majority five years later at the 2015 general election.

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References

↑ "Leadership elections: Conservative Party". Parliament UK. p. 11. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
↑ "Tory leadership voting ends". BBC. 11 September 2001. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
↑ "Duncan Smith elected Tory leader". BBC. 13 September 2001. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
↑ UK Polling Report. UK Polling Report (2010-12-31). Retrieved on 2013-08-15.
↑ Stone-Lee, Ollie (30 September 2005). "Is everyone a Portillista now?". BBC News.

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[1] "Leadership elections: Conservative Party". Parliament UK. p. 11. Retrieved 22 June 2019.

[2] "Tory leadership voting ends". BBC. 11 September 2001. Retrieved 22 October 2010.

[3] "Duncan Smith elected Tory leader". BBC. 13 September 2001. Retrieved 22 October 2010.

[4] UK Polling Report. UK Polling Report (2010-12-31). Retrieved on 2013-08-15.

[5] Stone-Lee, Ollie (30 September 2005). "Is everyone a Portillista now?". BBC News.

v t e Conservative Party leadership election, 2001
Outgoing Leader: William Hague
Michael Ancram Kenneth Clarke David Davis Iain Duncan Smith Michael Portillo