Definitely Ken Clarke for Tory leader, provided Ann Widdecombe becomes his deputy. An unbeatable combination that would put the Party on the map again and differentiate it from not-so-new Labour. British politics has become very boring; it is incumbent on the Tory Party to add to the gaiety of the nation.
John O'Byrne, Dublin Providing that he goes on duffing up Mr Blair over Iraq, Ken Clarke is the only person who could persuade me to vote Conservative after a lifetime of supporting Labour. Max Findlay, London
If the Conservatives pick David Davis as their next leader they will lose again. He is too far to the right to capture the centre of the electorate. Ken Clarke is a far more electable figure to the essential swing voters in an election. David Cameron is also unknown to ordinary people; no one knows what he stands for. Ben Singleton, St Annes
Ken Clarke has stated that he is desperate to put the Tories in power. His desperation is the same desperation shared by "all the kings horses and all the kings men who couldn't put Humpty together again". The Tories cannot function as a decent opposition, never mind a ruling party. They are broken and defeated. Ken Clarke is old, is the Deputy Chairman of British American Tobacco, and is seen by most people as a failed throwback from Thatcher's and Major's Governments. He likes to portray himself as a jovial fellow who enjoys a smoke and a drink down the local, but in reality he is an overweight old man who drinks and smokes too much. Not exactly a good example for the country. Anthony Charlton, Barnard Castle
If the Conservatives knew what they were doing it would be Portillo who would be in the running for leader. He would be dynamic, energetic and eloquent and would make an old party look modern. Ken Clarke, on the other hand, looks like he has been in his pub every day for years and I suspect that the reality of his views are traditionally conservative rather than modern and freedom-orientated as his recent speeches suggest. Nick Dewey, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
The next Conservative leader needs to look at this 3 point solution: 1) Apologise for ERM debacle of Black Wednesday and finally draw a line under it. 2) Call a referendum on whether we stay in the EU. This will destroy the marginal UKIP vote, bring back many people into the fold and indeed bring some old Labour with them. 3) Abolish inheritance tax, which raises little revenue and is totally unfair and scares their core middle-class voters. Do all that and we really will have a general election. And no, Kenneth Clarke would do none of the above. Marcus Berry, London
Everyone keeps talking about "new ideas" - surely what we need is someone with good ideas. Ideas about traditional Tory values like smaller government, lower taxation, independence of the judiciary, a less presidential government, genuine choice about healthcare and education. I believe Ken Clarke is the right man for the job, and the fact that he is 65 is irrelevant. Name and address withheld
The Tories should not be focusing on reuniting the Party under another compromise candidate. The aim must be to win the election. The only one with any hope is Ken Clarke: he is the toughest, the most intelligent, the most experienced and the most popular - for God's sake elect him. Name and address withheld
Being "born Labour" and disenchanted with the current bunch of Labour leaders I think that the only Tory that I could bring myself to vote for is Ken Clarke. Jim Golightly, Prudhoe, Northumberland
Clarke, a week before announcing he will be a candidate, finally decides that the euro is a disaster. This abrupt volte-face can only be explained by one of the following. 1) Clarke, like Saint Paul, has experienced a Damascene conversion. 2) Clarke, like the Protestant Henri of Navarre, has decided that "Paris (or the Party leadership) is worth a mass". 3) Clarke is testing Abraham Lincoln's aphorism that you can fool "all of the people some of the time". Only if the first occurred would I consider that Clarke showed the ethical standards we should demand from politicians. Unfortunately, I suspect that he is an unreconstructed Europhile happily descending to the spin so ably demonstrated by New Labour. Name and address withheld
None of the current candidates have the qualities needed to strengthen the UK's vitality. A leader should be chosen not merely as a party leader; a contender to the opposition, but for his inspiring and wise leadership of the country. The only man with sufficient of these qualities is John Redwood. It will be a great loss to Britain if he does not stand in the election. Ben Nicholson, Chichester
It doesn't seem to worry Ken himself, or anybody else, that his policies have been not merely wrong, but quite catastrophic. Had he been leader of the party at any time he would almost certainly have succeeded in chaining Britain to the euro, pushing further integration and ensuring (his declared objective after all) that Westminster was no more than a local government in the EU superstate. Very fine to confess now that he was wrong! Does anyone really want such a man as leader? Robert Sebag-Montefiore, Château d'Oex, Switzerland
Ken Clarke has the best chance of leading the Conservatives to victory in the next election. He has personal charisma, charm and experience. He is not too old. Many of us are at our best in our seventies. I have always disagreed with his over-the-top pro-Europe views, but despite that I voted for him four years ago. If he had only said then what he has now about the Euro, he would have been elected last time round and the Conservatives might have won the last election. My advice to him is not to adopt the presidential style of Blair, but to let his ministers take much of the responsibility and the limelight. Martin Hime, London
