One of the contenders for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, yesterday promised a radical rethink of Tory policy, pledging to "decentralise, de-politicise and de-monopolise" public services.
In his first keynote speech of the leadership race to succeed Mr William Hague, the rightwing shadow defence secretary called for an end to "state monopoly" in the delivery of public services, such as health and education.
Insisting his proposals would not mean the end of free healthcare, Mr Duncan Smith said the issue was not about "public versus private but monopoly versus competition.
"We need to show that far too often the state monopoly has become remote, bureaucratic and impersonal. It is our role to restate our belief in public services . . ."
Mr Duncan Smith also played down an opinion poll in the London Times yesterday showing Mr Kenneth Clarke as the favourite among Tory MPs and the 300,000 party members who will choose the next leader.
The MORI poll put Mr Clarke just ahead of Mr Michael Portillo at 29 per cent to 25 per cent among MPs and party members.
However, among the public Mr Clarke was far ahead of Mr Portillo, at 32 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
But Mr Duncan Smith told supporters in London that he was not surprised by the poll: "Ken is a well-known figure in the party. It is almost inevitable that early on Ken will be the person."
Another leadership contender, Mr David Davis, warned yesterday that favourites often lost "and dark horses often win".
Speaking to his supporters, Mr Davis said he wanted to be a Tory Duke of Wellington to defeat Mr Blair's "Napoleon".
The Prime Minister was a "dreadful" leader but a "very effective political general" and, employing a touch of historical licence, he compared Mr Blair to the French military leader who was "thought to be incapable of being defeated".
But the Duke of Wellington had found a way of defeating Napoleon, he said, which was by using "the best of British strength and not by copying him".
With the election of the Eurosceptic, Sir Michael Spicer, as the new chairman of the 1922 Committee, the body which will oversee the election process, party members have been informed that nominations will close on Thursday and the first round of voting will take place the following Tuesday.
Pitching the leadership contest as a battle between himself and Mr Michael Portillo, the late entrant in the leadership race, Mr Kenneth Clarke, said he had had long enough to look at the field of contenders to decide he had a "perfectly reasonable" chance of being elected leader.
In an interview in this week's Spectator, he said he was "incapable of churning out soundbites" and he urged the party to spend less time on slogans and more time on policy: "The most important thing people should ask themselves in the party and the country is `should we be more concerned with winning elections or going on with the debate about Europe?' If we opt for the second, then we will lose the next several elections to come."