Davis put in charge as Duncan Smith draws a line under dispute
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Your support makes all the difference.David Davis will be left in charge of the Conservative Party next month after a meeting to "clear the air" over his future with Iain Duncan Smith yesterday.
The former chairman will lead and organise the party on the media and at Central Office while Mr Duncan Smith, Theresa May, the new chairman, and Michael Ancram, the deputy leader, are all on holiday.
The decision to give Mr Davis such responsibility follows a fresh agreement with the Tory leader to draw a line under the rows that have surrounded the pair in recent weeks.
Yesterday's face-to-face meeting was the first between the two men since Mr Davis was sacked by Mr Duncan Smith in a mobile phone call last week. Mr Davis was holidaying in Florida when he was dumped in favour of Mrs May after a series of briefings about his alleged laziness and opposition to reforms on women and ethnic minority candidates.
In an electrifying speech in his constituency on Saturday, he warned that "unpleasantness and division" could "cripple" Mr Duncan Smith's leadership. Mr Davis further accused his enemies of damaging the party with a "cowardly campaign of character assassination".
However, after yesterday's meeting, Mr Davis has now been put in charge of the party from next Friday for two weeks, Conservative Central Office confirmed. Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary, will be acting as his number two during August.
August was traditionally a time when Mr Davis made his name attacking the Government in his former role as chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
Mr Davis has made it clear that he intends to maintain a high profile in his new post shadowing the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott – without the title of deputy party leader.
Mr Letwin sought to damp down the row yesterday by claiming that the party was more interested in policy direction and attacking Labour than in personalities.
Although both sides said they wanted to draw a line under the affair, the bitterness was evident when Mr Davis's supporters claimed Dominic Cummings, the Conservative strategy director, was behind the Haltemprice and Howden MP's demotion.
As chairman, Mr Davis disowned Mr Cummings' comment to The Independent last month that the Tories were too unpopular to lead the campaign against the euro.
Allies of Mr Davis told The Independent on Sunday yesterday: "There is a Jo Moore figure in CCO [Conservative Central Office] who thinks he is above elected politicians and has taken it upon himself to poison Iain Duncan Smith's mind against David Davis – and a very successful job he has done of it."
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