See if we can work in a mention of cigars and jazz? Photograph: PA
If I were a Liberal Democrat I'd be flattered. According to Ken Clarke's leadership campaign website, he is:
... a respected and popular Leader, with a confident message that can earn the respect of all sections of British society, will deliver an electable Conservative alternative to Labour, and halt the rise of the Liberal Democrats.
A force that rises so fast that it needs to be halted, no less. Usually only menaces to national security or the integrity of the nation - the far right, Islamic militancy - merit such rhetoric.
The quote comes originially from the Telegraph. So the Lib Dem horde really has shaken the gates of the Conservative citadel.
The rest of the site has material on Ken's record in government, his parliamentary greatest hits and much repetition of what it is he can offer the party, which can be summarised: 'is liked'. A rare quality indeed for a politician of any stripe.
Update: Flippancy aside, I asked the view of Observer Chief Political Correspondent Ned Temko on Ken's campaign. He said in an email despatch from Westminster:
The decision to stand has been a foregone conclusion among his closest supporters since the start of the summer. It injects life into a strangely low-key campaign... but offers no greater certainty regarding the outcome. Ken has obvious strengths: experience, boundless self-confidence, and appeal that goes beyond the Tories' core support. But he has potential vulernabilities, too: age, links with the tobacco industry, an assertively pro-European outlook that could still cause him problems even though the single currency and the Euro-constitution are off the political agenda for now... And in the immediate contest with David Cameron, the younger Shadow Education Secretary apparently has an edge among the potentially influential 50-odd new MPs elected in the last election.
The expectation among Tory MPs now is an increasingly testy, potentially decisive few weeks of Clarke-Cameron sparring (with frontrunner David Davis hoping to remain above the fray and trying not to look too obviously pleased by his rivals' infighting...)
