Dorrell's Pledge To "Re-Build" Party
The former Health Secretary, Stephen Dorrell, launched his bid for the party leadership with a personal rallying call to remaining Tory MPs.
Mr Dorrell told his parliamentary colleagues he was the man to "rebuild the Conservative coalition" and win the next general election.
In a letter to Conservative MPs, he outlined his priorities for leading the Tory fight-back. He wrote that the party had to improve its internal organisation, in order to be an "effective" opposition, with a clear programme.
"I don't seek to avoid my responsibility as a member of John Major's Cabinet, but I think that those of us who were defeated last Thursday ought to show a little humility, frankly, in the face of what happened," said Mr Dorrell.
The former Health Secretary called on the Conservative Party to start looking at the needs of the community instead of concentrating on "left" and "right" labels.
"What we have to do is to demonstrate how a Conservative government would make life better, that is deliver better schools, better hospitals the prospect of improving their living standards to every different section of the community," he said.
"Let us think about what the Conservative Party needs to say to those people. We heard a lot inevitably about the things we couldn't do and the things we were against," he insisted.
"We need to express more clearly, and with real conviction, the things we are in favour of and will make life better for each section of the community," said Mr Dorrell.
Mr Dorrell is joined today in the leadership contest by William Hague the former Welsh Secretary, taking the number of contenders so far to six.
The other declared contenders are the former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, the 1995 leadership contender John Redwood, the former Home Secretary Michael Howard and the former Social Security Secretary, Peter Lilley.
The party chairman Brian Mawhinney will be involved in discussions relating to the timing of elections for a new backbench 1922 Committee chairman and executive.
Those elections will enable the party to establish a timetable for election of a new leader, though it is a process unlikely to be completed within the month.
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