A number of pitfalls await Chancellor Kenneth Clarke over the next few
months as the country heads towards the election but at least, after the
Tory party conference, looking for another job won’t be one. In a
departure from his previous lacklustre speeches, this year’s performance
was variously described as ‘barnstorming’, ‘uncompromising’ and
‘commanding’ although he gave no promise to cut taxes and stood by the
single European currency.
Before the event the Times foresaw that ‘the Chancellor will be crying
into his beer’ while the Guardian predicted ‘the party organisers will
have to work hard to ensure he gets a standing ovation’.
In the event, the man ‘most feared by Labour’ (Mail on Sunday) provided
the ‘pivotal point of the conference’ (the Observer) and was the Sunday
Telegraph’s top performer with ten out of ten. Support wasn’t unanimous;
the Daily Mail rated him bottom of the speaker league, while Andrew Neil
in the Sunday Times predicted a short-lived truce.
Evaluation and analysis by Carma International. Cuttings supplied by The
Broadcast Monitoring Company. ‘What The Papers Say’ can also be found
at: http//www.carma.com/carma
