Promising a caring, sharing reform agenda far from "yah-boo" politics, Mr Michael Portillo announced today he would stand for the leadership of Britain's Tory party.
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Mr Michael Portillo
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The former defence minister, an ex-Thatcherite who claims to have moved to the "caring Conservative" centre ground, is seen as hot favourite to take over from outgoing leader Mr William Hague.
His announcement immediately sparked what could to be a bitter contest for the heart and soul of the party, between its pro-European liberal wing and its strongly eurosceptic, Thatcherite majority.
Mr Portillo, who can claim elements of both, is seen as one of the few capable of appealing both to the party itself and to the country at large.
The 48-year-old is the first person to formally declare his hand after the Conservative Party's second successive general election thrashing last week.
He said: "We need to adopt a tone that is moderate and understanding. We need to be talking about the issues that they are talking about."
He also promised to adopt a less confrontational style of debate, rather than the typically boorish "yah-boo" approach to politics.
But his appeal for unity was rebuffed immediately by the party's formidable home affairs spokeswoman Ms Ann Widdecombe, who said she could never serve under him.
Her outburst clouded Mr Portillo's big day and was the clearest sign yet the battle for leadership is likely to be bitterly fought.
"I cannot, I simply cannot serve Michael Portillo, it's as simple as that," she told BBC television, declining to elaborate.
Ms Widdecombe has said she may stand for the leadership too, and others on the right of the party are mulling a similar challenge.
Nevertheless, the Mr Portillo camp insists 11 of the 17 members of the shadow cabinet are on his side.
On the crucial issue of Europe, he promised an "internationalist" tone.
Mr Portillo said he wanted a party which appealed "to the whole diversity of people who now live in the United Kingdom - to people of all ages, to people of both sexes, and people whose family origin is outside Britain."
Ms Widdecombe takes a harder line than Mr Portillo on most issues. Authoritarian, religious, tough on crime, in support of detention centres for asylum seekers, she appeals to many grassroots Tories but not to the country at large.
AFP