A shambolic departure

It seems that Michael Howard, unlike his beloved Liverpool FC, has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Having led his party to a respectable, morale-boosting result in the general election, the Tory leader can now only watch as his party is reduced, once again, to a quarrelsome rabble.

It seems that Michael Howard, unlike his beloved Liverpool FC, has managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Having led his party to a respectable, morale-boosting result in the general election, the Tory leader can now only watch as his party is reduced, once again, to a quarrelsome rabble.

At the root of the Tories' troubles is the question of the leadership. Mr Howard's decision to step down after the election was, in many ways, noble. By putting off his departure until the end of the year, however - to allow for reform of the leadership election procedures - he blundered. Many Tory MPs are not keen on the extended period of uncertainty this entails. Some are demanding that Mr Howard go sooner rather than later. There is even talk of a confidence motion.

Then there is the fraught question of how the next leader should be chosen. The disastrous tenure of Iain Duncan Smith has persuaded many Conservatives - MPs and activists alike - that the new leader should not be chosen at the grass-roots level again. But by no means everyone agrees. And it is indeed bizarre that at a time when all politicians speak earnestly of the need to devolve responsibility to a local level, the Tories should be drawing greater power to the centre. Any new leadership election system clearly needs to retain a degree of local participation. Whatever procedure is alighted upon, it is also essential that the next leader is chosen with a minimum of delay.

There are, of course, plenty of personal agendas flying around in the latest crisis. David Davis, the shadow Home Secretary, suspects that Mr Howard's real motive for reforming the leadership system is to keep him out. Still smarting after being reshuffled out of the Shadow Cabinet, Damian Green has called on Mr Howard to step down at once. Howard Flight, too, hastily sacked by Mr Howard during the election campaign, has raised his head above the parapet. Everywhere, old scores are being settled and former rivalries raised.

Paradoxically, all this is happening just as the Tories seem to be reaching a patchy consensus on most important policy areas. And some of the new influx of Tory MPs are making the Conservatives look vaguely representative of modern Britain.

Were it not for this ill-timed bout of infighting, the Tories could be exploiting the Government's present shakiness. The authority of the Prime Minister, who - like Mr Howard - has announced his eventual departure, is slowly draining away. And even the once untouchable Gordon Brown looks vulnerable. Not for the first time, this country needs a convincing Opposition. And not for the first time, the Tories are failing to provide it.