BRITAIN: Michael Howard yesterday admitted the British Conservatives face a massive task if they are to win the next election.
The Conservative leader said it was not just a case of "one more heave". He said the party had to reconnect with voters if it was to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat.
Mr Howard also called for a clean fight in the contest to succeed him as leader. And he said Ken Clarke - who yesterday revealed he was considering standing - was too old for the job.
Mr Howard said the party had made progress in this month's election. He said the result gave the party a platform from which it could win power next time.
But he conceded it faced a huge battle because it had to change how it was seen by voters.
"I think we have made progress and I think we have established a basis from which we really can go on to win the next election," he said.
"But no one in the Conservative Party should assume that this next election is going to drop into our lap. No one should assume that it is a question of one more heave.
"We obviously haven't succeeded in really connecting with the electorate as a whole - with their concerns and anxieties and frustrations and their hopes and aspirations and dreams."
Mr Howard told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost: "Clearly the perception of the Conservative Party by the majority of the electorate is not the perception we would like them to have."
Last week Mr Howard rebuked two of his MPs for criticising his election campaign. Today he called for discipline and unity in the leadership contest.
"I hope we can conduct this debate in a civilised way," he said.
Mr Howard is standing down after saying he would himself be too old to take the party into the next election.
And he suggested the same was true for Mr Clarke - at 64 a year older than Mr Howard.
"If you look ahead to the next election, it is going to be in four or five years' time, I will be 67 or 68, and I think that is too old to lead a party from opposition into government," he said.
Former chancellor Mr Clarke yesterday said he was taking soundings on making a third bid for the leadership.
He denied age was a barrier saying, "My view is you're as old as you feel."
Tim Yeo, who quit the shadow cabinet last week, said Mr Clarke would be a "very strong contender" if he entered the leadership contest. - (PA)