Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2001

Conservative Party (UK) leadership election

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8 June 2001 (2001-06-08) – 13 September 2001 (2001-09-13)

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Candidate	Iain Duncan Smith	Kenneth Clarke	Michael Portillo
Popular vote	155,993	100,864	Eliminated
Percentage	60.7%	39.3%	Eliminated
Third Ballot	54, 32.5%	59, 35.5%	53, 32%
Second Ballot	42, 25.3%	39, 23.6%	50, 30.1%
First Ballot	39, 23.5%	36, 21.6%	49, 29.5%


Candidate	David Davis	Michael Ancram
Third Ballot	Eliminated	Eliminated
Second Ballot	18, 10.8%	17, 10.2%
First Ballot	21, 12.7%	21, 12.7%

Leader before election

Elected Leader

The 2001 Conservative leadership election was held after the United Kingdom 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.

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.

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.

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