ARE WE AT BATAAN YET?:

Howard quits and becomes fourth victim of Blair factor (Nicholas Watt, May 7, 2005, The Guardian)

Michael Howard yesterday stunned Tory MPs by becoming his party's fourth leader in eight years to stand down after falling victim to Tony Blair's enduring, if slightly faltering, appeal to Middle Britain.

Flanked by smiling family members, Mr Howard looked relieved as he pledged one final service - to hang on for a few months to preside over changes to his party's leadership election rules, which controversially give the final say to its ageing grassroots.

His resignation declaration, in the symbolically important seat of Putney, which returned to the Tory fold after eight years in Labour's hands, immediately triggered the first murmurings of the sixth contest since the fall of Margaret Thatcher in 1990.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, last night emerged as the frontrunner, as Tories across the party privately threw their weight behind the man who came last in the most recent contest, in 2001. [...]

Kenneth Clarke, understood to see himself as "kingmaker rather than king", may endorse the rightwing Mr Davis if he pledges to campaign on the centre ground.

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If he doesn’t slip up he could be Tory top banana: David Davis is defending a marginal but the man many think will be the next Tory leader (Andrew Porter, 4/17/05, Times of London)

Unlike all the activists that accompany him, the shadow home secretary is not sporting a traditional deep-blue campaign rosette with his name emblazoned on it. Although he is clinging on to a marginal seat, Davis is not lacking self- confidence.

In the next two weeks he is going to hear a lot about how the Liberal Democrats plan to “decapitate” him. The majority in his Haltemprice and Howden constituency is slight, at 1,903. It is why Davis is being forced to spend almost the entire election pounding the streets and pressing the flesh.

Standing outside the gates of the BAE Systems factory in Brough, where, he points out, he helped save a number of jobs by securing a big government jet contract last year, Davis says he is sure he will win again.

But what about the big question that politicians are being asked in this election: do you have an iPod? “I don’t have an iPod. I carry a zPod,” he boasts proudly. His small team of advisers and helpers look slightly bemused.

In fact, as Davis, giving his first interview on the campaign trail, takes delight in pointing out, this is the future. A zPod is the rival to Apple’s multi-million selling iPod. It is an all-in-one “hard disk MP3 player and radio” capable of holding up to 8,000 songs. “I can get it all on there. Music and radio when I have to listen to the Today programme,” says Davis.

So what about the Lib Dem opponent who narrowed his majority last time and hopes to turn it over on May 5? “The truth is I have been very active in this constituency and the Lib Dems have been very good at trying to get credit for things they had very little to do with.”

The Tory canvassers with Davis are a classic mix of old stagers in macs, middle-aged activists in smart navy suits and grungy-looking students bused in from Hull University Conservative club.

Davis is one of the few Tories that Alastair Campbell considers a friend, not something Davis chooses to promote much. The idea that Campbell, the man behind portrayals of Michael Howard as the devil, is chums with Davis may leave many Conservatives uneasy. But Davis, who many believe will one day replace Howard, is not afraid to be different.

He breaks off from a slap-up lunch at the Red Hawk pub to field some media calls about Kamel Bourgass, the operative trained by Al-Qaeda who stabbed a detective to death in Manchester. Davis says Labour’s immigration and asylum policies are partly to blame.

He is even in favour of the death penalty in certain cases — a view that jars uncomfortably with the Tory high command.

'Immigrants threaten British values' (Greg Hurst, 10/07/04, Times of London)

DAVID DAVIS gave warning yesterday that Britain’s traditional values were at risk from the scale of immigration into the country and promised substantial cuts if the Tories won power.

Mr Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, told the Conservative conference that Britain was already the most densely populated big country in Europe and the level of immigration was far too high. Immigrants could fill six new cities the size of Birmingham over the next three decades, he said, and pledged to take action “before it is too late”.

His remarks were criticised as opening the party to accusations of racism and there were signs of private dismay among some Conservatives as they risked triggering the first row of the conference and overshadowing carefully planned party messages.

Mr Davis told the conference that immigrants were not evenly distributed within the country but went to areas that were already the most overcrowded. This put a burden on housing, health, education and public services in areas where that burden was already heaviest.

“A Conservative government will substantially cut immigration into Britain. Uncontrolled immigration endangers the values that we in Britain rightly treasure,” he said.

“We Conservatives understand how vital it is not to threaten what makes this country so tolerant, so decent, so respectful of other people’s rights and, yes, so welcoming of people who come here.”

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 6, 2005 10:13 PM