THE field of runners for the Tory leadership narrowed last night as it emerged that George Osborne, the 33-year-old Shadow Chancellor, has told colleagues that he does not intend to enter the race.

Mr Osborne is understood to believe that his youth and relative inexperience — he has been an MP for less than four years — mean that he would have “neither the authority nor the political base” to lead the party.

He had considered standing after being unexpectedly promoted to the second most senior post on the Conservative front bench earlier this month and, according to one ally yesterday, could avoid formally ruling himself out until it is clear whether other candidates have “self-destructed”.

But David Cameron, his close friend, is also said to be reluctant to enter the contest. Although the 38-year-old Shadow Education Secretary is described as “more persuadable” than Mr Osborne, both think they would be better off waiting until after the next election.

Tory modernisers are increasingly beginning to look elsewhere for a credible champion of their brand of progressive Conservatism in the succession to Michael Howard. They are currently focusing on Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, who reinvented himself as a moderniser in the last Parliament.

Kenneth Clarke, 64, the former Chancellor who has twice been runner-up in leadership elections, has hinted that he could stand again. But any hope he has of winning would probably be scotched if France backs the proposed EU Constitution in a referendum later this month.

Although polls suggest that the result is too close to call, a vote in favour of the treaty would ensure Britain goes ahead with its own referendum next year, when Mr Clarke is expected to be a leading figure in the “yes” campaign, sharing a platform with Tony Blair and Charles Kennedy and putting him at odds with the majority of Tory voters and MPs.

Although Mr Howard studiously avoided the issue in the general election campaign, the Conservative Party has become almost uniformly Eurosceptic over recent years.

The “no” campaign, which relaunched this week, has sought to play down links to the Conservative Party with a website which suggests that it is comprised of Labour MPs, Green Party members, trade unionists and academics. But senior Tories are already working on the assumption that their next leader will, at the very least, be a “major player” in it.

Sir Malclom Rifkind, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary who was re-elected this month as an MP after an eight-year absence, is also likely to be worried about a referendum damaging his leadership ambitions. The former Foreign Secretary has trimmed his pro-European views over recent years, but he is still regarded with deep suspicion by sceptics.

Even David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary and apparent frontrunner to succeed Mr Howard, could face embarrassment over Europe. Although he is a confirmed sceptic, his opponents are likely to point out how he helped to overcome opposition to Maastricht during the last Tory government.

Liam Fox is ready to battle it out with Mr Davis over who should be the right-wing candidate for the Tory leadership. He has already made maximum use of his new role as Shadow Foreign Secretary to lambast the proposed EU constitution. Yesterday Dr Fox told the Government that it should end confusion over a referendum and set a date now.

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