CONSERVATIVE leadership favourite David Davis yesterday failed to win over waverers with his key conference speech.

Rivals David Cameron and Ken Clarke had raised the stakes with powerful platform addresses in Blackpool.

But the Shadow Home Secretary, not known as a strong speaker, could not match their commanding performances when his turn came.

However, Mr Davis insisted he is the candidate who can unite the party behind a "new idealism and a shared sense of purpose".

He was echoed by Liam Fox, the last declared contender to address the conference, who warned Tories not to "trash" their past.

The conference spotlight is seen as a crucial chance to impress activists who will eventually decide the contest. Tory MPs will decide which two candidates reach the final membership ballot in a series of knock-out votes.

DAVID DAVIS

DAVID Davis urged his fellow Tories to "walk tall" yesterday - but the leadership frontrunner seemed to shrink even as he stood before them.

Afterwards, the question on everyone's lips in the Blackpool bars was whether the crown was starting to slip away from the Shadow Home Secretary.

Where Mr Cameron was slick and charismatic, Mr Davis was dour and uninspiring. Where Mr Clarke showed he had the weapons to hurt Labour, the Davis armoury appeared empty.

And, at the end, the audience rose to their feet with all the enthusiasm of a group of sixth-formers when the headteacher walks into the classroom. The favourite had flopped.

The problem for the Davis camp is that their man failed to sparkle even while delivering a traditional speech that should have gone down a storm at a Tory conference.

If he can't impress the faithful while vowing to "take back control of our own borders" and threatening to scrap the Human Rights Act, what are his chances with the wider public?

Where Mr Cameron and Mr Clarke both, in different ways, challenged the party to change, the Davis message was: "We don't need a collective nervous breakdown."

After this lacklustre performance, Tory members will be thinking they have heard that steady-as-she-goes message before, from Hague, Duncan Smith and Howard - and look where that got them.

Politics is all about momentum and Mr Davis himself has set the bar high by claiming 66 definite supporters among the MPs.

A place in the final run-off is still almost certain, but Mr Davis will be in trouble when the contest reaches the members if he scores well below 66.

LIAM FOX

LIAM Fox set out his stall as the keeper of the Thatcher flame with a Europe-bashing speech that marked him out as the rightwing candidate on the rise.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary surprised the pundits with a passionate performance that earned instinctive approval from a Tory grassroots left cold by David Davis.

Dr Fox wooed the ultra-right members of the 25-strong Cornerstone group of MPs by comparing the European Union to the "oppressive foreign regime" of the Soviet Union.

And, to warm applause, he wrapped himself in the Union Jack by condemning the "politically correct brigade" who believed flying the flag outside schools was racist.

The former GP revealed a hard streak with an effective dig at Mr Davis for dining out on his humble origins on a council estate.

After pointing out he had attended a comprehensive school, he added: "We should elect leaders because of where they are going to - not where they have come from."

Dr Fox also displayed a more thoughtful side in his warnings about a "broken society" - one, perhaps, that a doctor was best equipped to heal?

At the end, the 44-year-old bachelor invited his fiancee up onto the stage.

Dr Fox is unlikely to have done enough to force himself into the run off - but the nerves were twitching in the Davis camp last night.

Fence-sitter Hague praises them all

WILLIAM Hague told the Tory faithful his only remaining political ambition was to turf Labour out of power - but refused to say which of the leadership contenders he was backing.

In a typically stirring speech to the Blackpool conference, the Richmond MP and former leader said he was still an optimist that the future would be Conservative.

There had been speculation that Mr Hague would endorse his close friend Liam Fox, with whom he co-hosted a champagne reception last night. The backing of the hugely popular MP - still recognised as one of the Tories' few big-hitters - would be a big prize for the any of the hopefuls.

But, instead, Mr Hague tactfully praised the "experience" of Ken Clarke, the "passion" of Dr Fox, the "freshness" of David Cameron and the "determination" of David Davis.

And he turned his fire on Tony Blair, exploiting last week's announcement of a ban on junk food in schools to describe the Prime Minister as the "master chef of junk policy".

His failed policies had produced a "foul-tasting kitchen nightmare that Gordon Ramsay couldn't sort out, let alone Gordon Brown". The Tories must move on from the issues of the 1970s and 80s and leapfrog Labour into the future" - summing up its vision in a single sentence, said Mr Hague.

He suggested it should read: "To give this country the educational excellence, economic freedom, national self belief and social cohesion - to make it the best place to live in the world."