WHILE there may be opposition from constituency members to their exclusion from the election process, it is wise for the Conservative Party to make the choice of successor to Iain Duncan Smith a fait accompli.

A bruising battle between candidates would only serve to confirm the suspicion of many ordinary voters that there is more which divides the party than unites it.

However, the ills of the Conservatives will not be cured by an uncontested election of a leader to take them into the next General Election.

The Conservatives' problems of recent years go much further than the leadership. They go to the very heart of the party itself.

Britain and the world has moved on over the past two decades. But the popular perception is that the Conservative Party has not moved with the times, and is still rooted to the doctrines of Margaret Thatcher.

It is not just the leader who must throw off the shackles of its past. The party must join him, and join him enthusiastically.

Michael Howard will find it more difficult than most to change public perception. As a minister of both the Thatcher and Major administrations, he is tainted by his past.

His promise to lead from the centre and appeal to all of the country shows his determination to bring his party into the 21st century.

But for his supporters to talk of him as the next Prime Minister is optimistic, with his party in need of wholesale reform and the next General Election probably less than two years away.

Welcome return

DAVID Hodgson's return to Darlington Football Club is to be welcomed.

No one is better qualified to summon the commitment from the players and supporters to ease the plight of the club.

While he may not be blessed with the resources which saw him take the Quakers to the brink of promotion in 2000, he has the ability and experience to take the club from the threat of relegation. Such an achievement will be classed as a great managerial success.