ONE landslide defeat at a General Election should be enough for any political party to take a long hard look at itself.

But it has taken the Conservative Party a second disaster at the polls, plus 16 months of torpor, to come to terms with the blindingly obvious.

At long last the party's leadership has realised that while the country has moved on, Conservatism has not.

The conference in Bournemouth opened with a few home truths for party members.

Chairman Theresa May told them of their 'nasty' image and self-indulgence in feuding.

It is a brutal message which will strike a chord within the British electorate. But will it strike a chord within the party itself?

When the Labour Party re-modelled itself in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it had already endured the pain of the creation of the SDP and the expulsion of the Militant Tendency.

By the time it started to reform itself it did so with the consensus of its membership.

The Conservative Party has not gone through such a process of elimination. Its membership subscribes to many different brands of Conservatism.

Iain Duncan Smith's challenge this week will be to re-define Conservatism to suit the modern world.

But his challenge in the weeks and months ahead will be to keep his party together as a credible political force as that painful process of modernisation takes shape.

Reid's legacy

FEW Sunderland supporters will disagree with the board of directors' decision to end Peter Reid's reign at the club.

Reid's great strength as a manager was as a motivator. While the brand of football his team played did not always please the purist, no one questioned the commitment and passion of the players he sent on to the field.

Sadly this year, that commitment has been lacking, leaving many fans to come to the conclusion that the manager had taken the club as far as he possibly could.

But the nature of his departure from the Stadium of Light should not detract from the great contribution he has made to the club over the past seven years.