The Spectator’s Notes | 28 May 2005

Turning on what I thought was the Today programme on Monday, I heard the voice of Kenneth Clarke, talking about Dizzy Gillespie. Another shameless plug by the BBC, I thought, for the man they are always trying to make Tory leader. Perhaps I was right, but the immediate cause was that there was no Today programme, due to a 24-hour strike, so Ken was, in effect, a scab. Although it is Michael Howard who has often been compared to a vampire, it is the older Mr Clarke who will not lie down and die. If he stands in the coming contest, it will be his third attempt. The possibly unintended effect of the proposed Conservative leadership rule changes will be to benefit Mr Clarke, by returning the main power of selection to MPs. They tend not to understand the depth of the cultural problem which their party still faces and so they favour what they irritatingly call ‘big beasts’, and Mr Clarke, of course, is the biggest.