There were no breaks in Vietnam then.Over the leadership contest he has appeared endearingly unambitious because he is not sure of his ambitions. As he has constantly said he wants to be Prime Minister, but he says this in the same way Blair “wants” to be in the single currency. Neither of them have a clue how to reach their different aspirations Clarke knows of no clear route to be Prime Minister. The Prime Minister knows of no clear route for joining the euro. Which brings us to another reason for concern about Mr Clarke’s candidacy. As a backbencher he is the most forceful advocate for the euro in the Commons.If he wins the leadership contest he will be much more compromised.

There is a danger that his language will become as tortured and defensive as the words of Blair and Brown Already it is possible to see the lights going out. At his launch yesterday, while reiterating his theoretical support for the euro Clarke chose to stress a series of negatives: “We can’t join now because the pound is far too high…there may not be a referendum…it is not for me, but the Prime Minister to give the lead”. Mr Clarke is turning himself almost into a passive spectator rather than the most persuasive participant in the debate.Nor is it just a matter of the euro. Mr Clarke has grown up views on other matters relating to Europe. As he made clear yesterday he does not support the re-negotiation of the Nice Treaty, let alone the Rome Treaty. The prospect of a re-negotiation is what still gets some Conservative MPs going They may have been humbled a little by the election defeat. Some of them may even be reconsidering where they place the European obsession in their list of priorities.

So far none of them has announced a change of view on the substance of the issue.The election of Clarke as leader would not heal the party’s divisions over Europe It would formalise them. Over time he would no doubt hope that he could persuade his colleagues by stealth to take a more pragmatic approach. Looking at his parliamentary colleagues he cannot hold out much hope.Clarke remains the Denis Healey of his party. Healey was popular in the country and one of the few capable of landing the odd punch against the rampant Thatcher government. Clarke, in a way that is still underestimated, remains the most lethal opponent of Brown’s economic policies, especially the nightmarishly complex tax reforms.Often he prefaces his critique by the observation that he had often considered introducing the policies himself. He had rejected them on the ground that they were the least efficient way of assisting those they were designed to help Oddly even these attacks may become more blunted now.

They would be less potent because Clarke himself risks being diminished as a leader or as a failed candidate, in the same way Healey was never quite the same after his bruising battles with his party.Of the five leadership candidates Clarke was much the most impressive at his launch yesterday, eschewing waffle and platitudes. In a way he is the Tony Blair of his party, reminding them of the need to make real changes to become electable again. But his party is nowhere near as malleable as Labour was when Blair stood for the leadership in 1994.It would have been better for Clarke and better for British politics if he had kept well clear of this leadership contest.s.richards independent.co.uk
More from Steve Richards. I have received shoals of letters about the vulture that escaped from a zoo in Norfolk and was recaptured a few days later, and I feel I should print some of the best of them today.From Mrs Dorothy Macmillan (no relation)
Sir, I am constantly amazed by how many zoos there are in Britain of which one has never heard, from which animals are always escaping in the silly season to make headlines day after day. Call me cynical, but I wonder if these zoos really exist? Is it perhaps not more likely that journalists get together and plan this in advance? They buy a vulture, agree on the name of the fictional zoo from which it has escaped, hire a pretty girl as the “vulture-keeper” and then they’re up and running!yrs etcFrom Mr Ron LegateSir, I am constantly amazed by the ability of journalists to turn into a long-running saga something which is not a story in the first place. In this particular case I wonder if it is not because of an affinity between the nature of journalists and the nature of vultures? Both feed on others’ misfortunes.