 MICHAEL Howard last night laid claim to the Tory leadership, saying he wanted to lead the party from its centre and appeal to all its talents and all of the country. Mr Howard, after finally confirming his candidacy following the ousting of Iain Duncan Smith, disclosed he was going into talks with Kenneth Clarke. Mr Clarke is the one remaining Tory "big hitter" who has yet to yield to what Mr Howard's supporters hope is an unstoppable momentum, driving him unopposed to the post of party leader. The shadow Chancellor chose London's Saatchi art gallery to make his announcement, telling reporters: "I am announcing today that I am a candidate for the leadership of the Conservative Party. "I pay tribute first of all to Iain Duncan Smith, to his courage, to his dignity, to his decency and to what he has achieved for us in the last two years. "This is a great party, the longeststanding, most successful party in the history of democracy. There has been no other party that has done so much or achieved so much as ours. We are its trustees. "At its best, we have a party broad and generous, broad in appeal and generous in outlook - a party capable of representing all Britain and all Britons. "I will lead this party from its centre. I will call on the talents of all in the party and the party will expect all to answer that call." Mr Howard said there was "no coup" to hand him the party leadership. He said he would be the new leader if there were no other candidates. But he said he wanted to give the wider party the chance to ratify his appointment. But as Tory MPs began to dream of the ideal scenario of avoiding a divisive contest involving party members, there came the first warnings of grassroots dissent. Two party officials announced they were resigning over the ousting of Mr Duncan Smith. Jim Birrell, chairman of the Clwyd South Conservative constituency association and his media officer, Stuart Davies, have refused to work for the party. Mr Davies said: "We said we would quit if they voted him out and we are men of our word. What has happened was wrong, the rules need to be changed. Hopefully our actions will have some effect and we can get a message to Westminster that we are here as well." Mr Davies said he would stay a member of the party and would consider working for it again in the future "if I really must". Bookmakers William Hill stopped taking bets on Mr Howard becoming the next Tory leader. "It now looks as though it may turn out to be a onehorse race," a spokesman said.
Leader-elect has strong links with Liverpool
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