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| At Britain’s Conservative Party Conference, Eyes Are on David Cameron’s Job | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| MANCHESTER, England — David Cameron has no one else to blame. Having announced that he will not run for another term as Britain’s prime minister, even before he led his Conservatives to a surprising majority in the general election in May, the maneuvering for his job is underway. | MANCHESTER, England — David Cameron has no one else to blame. Having announced that he will not run for another term as Britain’s prime minister, even before he led his Conservatives to a surprising majority in the general election in May, the maneuvering for his job is underway. |
| So the Conservative Party’s annual convention this year has been less about him and more an audition of sorts for potential successors hoping to win hearts and minds. | So the Conservative Party’s annual convention this year has been less about him and more an audition of sorts for potential successors hoping to win hearts and minds. |
| On Wednesday, Mr. Cameron is scheduled to deliver the closing speech to the conference here and is expected to send activists home in a good mood, after outlining a change in planning rules to encourage house-building and promising a “turnaround decade.” | On Wednesday, Mr. Cameron is scheduled to deliver the closing speech to the conference here and is expected to send activists home in a good mood, after outlining a change in planning rules to encourage house-building and promising a “turnaround decade.” |
| Ever since delegates arrived in Manchester over the weekend, the spotlight has been on those believed to be most likely to succeed Mr. Cameron. Potential candidates have seized the chance to raise their profiles, woo supporters and play to the gallery while professing loyalty to their leader. | Ever since delegates arrived in Manchester over the weekend, the spotlight has been on those believed to be most likely to succeed Mr. Cameron. Potential candidates have seized the chance to raise their profiles, woo supporters and play to the gallery while professing loyalty to their leader. |
| In a powerful speech on Monday, George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer, positioned the Conservatives as the party of the center, gleefully appropriating a couple of the policies long associated with the opposition Labour Party. | In a powerful speech on Monday, George Osborne, chancellor of the Exchequer, positioned the Conservatives as the party of the center, gleefully appropriating a couple of the policies long associated with the opposition Labour Party. |
| On Tuesday, attention was focused on the home secretary, Theresa May, who shifted her profile to the right with harsh language and a stark warning over rising immigration. If not controlled, she argued, migration threatened to make a “cohesive society” impossible. | On Tuesday, attention was focused on the home secretary, Theresa May, who shifted her profile to the right with harsh language and a stark warning over rising immigration. If not controlled, she argued, migration threatened to make a “cohesive society” impossible. |
| Then, lacing a highly political speech with trademark humor, Boris Johnson, the charismatic lawmaker and departing mayor of London, joined the beauty pageant with an appeal to “one-nation,” or inclusive, Conservatives, while keeping open the possibility that he could back a British exit from the European Union in a referendum that Mr. Cameron has promised by the end of 2017. | Then, lacing a highly political speech with trademark humor, Boris Johnson, the charismatic lawmaker and departing mayor of London, joined the beauty pageant with an appeal to “one-nation,” or inclusive, Conservatives, while keeping open the possibility that he could back a British exit from the European Union in a referendum that Mr. Cameron has promised by the end of 2017. |
| Even before his speech, Mr. Cameron gave several broadcast interviews, perhaps trying to eliminate any notion of him as a King Lear figure within his own party, with the next election not due until 2020. | Even before his speech, Mr. Cameron gave several broadcast interviews, perhaps trying to eliminate any notion of him as a King Lear figure within his own party, with the next election not due until 2020. |
| But according to the British news media, as many as 18 Conservative lawmakers aspire to the leadership of their party. The prospect of succeeding Mr. Cameron is particularly enticing because of the dismal fortunes of the other political parties after the May election. | But according to the British news media, as many as 18 Conservative lawmakers aspire to the leadership of their party. The prospect of succeeding Mr. Cameron is particularly enticing because of the dismal fortunes of the other political parties after the May election. |
| Although Mr. Cameron’s party won only a small majority, the centrist Liberal Democrats, who had been in coalition with the Conservatives, slumped to just eight parliamentary seats, and the opposition Labour Party has now swung to the left, electing as its leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran of the left-wing fringes. | Although Mr. Cameron’s party won only a small majority, the centrist Liberal Democrats, who had been in coalition with the Conservatives, slumped to just eight parliamentary seats, and the opposition Labour Party has now swung to the left, electing as its leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran of the left-wing fringes. |
| Even the populist, right-wing U.K. Independence Party has been torn by infighting after the election, in which it secured more than 12 percent of the vote but just one seat. | Even the populist, right-wing U.K. Independence Party has been torn by infighting after the election, in which it secured more than 12 percent of the vote but just one seat. |
| The Conservatives, however, also face their own internal strains, notably on issues including Europe, migration and welfare. Mr. Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum on British membership in the European Union has heightened passions on a subject that has been divisive for Conservatives since 1990, when the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was ejected by her own party, partly because of her resistance to European integration. | The Conservatives, however, also face their own internal strains, notably on issues including Europe, migration and welfare. Mr. Cameron’s promise to hold a referendum on British membership in the European Union has heightened passions on a subject that has been divisive for Conservatives since 1990, when the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher, was ejected by her own party, partly because of her resistance to European integration. |
| Mr. Cameron has said he wants Britain to stay in the bloc, providing that he can negotiate an improvement in Britain’s ties with the European Union before holding the vote. One of his demands is that Britain be allowed to impose restrictions on welfare entitlements to migrants. | Mr. Cameron has said he wants Britain to stay in the bloc, providing that he can negotiate an improvement in Britain’s ties with the European Union before holding the vote. One of his demands is that Britain be allowed to impose restrictions on welfare entitlements to migrants. |
| The coalition government, which Mr. Cameron has led since 2010, has failed badly in trying to reach its stated goal of reducing net immigration to less than 100,000 a year. | The coalition government, which Mr. Cameron has led since 2010, has failed badly in trying to reach its stated goal of reducing net immigration to less than 100,000 a year. |
| Ms. May, who once appealed to Conservatives to shed their image as what she termed the “nasty party,” promised on Tuesday to shake up the asylum system, perhaps because there is little she can do to restrict migration from within the European Union. | Ms. May, who once appealed to Conservatives to shed their image as what she termed the “nasty party,” promised on Tuesday to shake up the asylum system, perhaps because there is little she can do to restrict migration from within the European Union. |
| “The fewer people there are who wrongly claim asylum in Britain, the more generous we can be in helping the most vulnerable people in the world’s most dangerous places,” she said. | “The fewer people there are who wrongly claim asylum in Britain, the more generous we can be in helping the most vulnerable people in the world’s most dangerous places,” she said. |
| Europe could also be a problem for Mr. Osborne, who has a leading role in the European Union renegotiation. Should the talks fail, or voters reject membership in the referendum, his prospects would take a battering. | Europe could also be a problem for Mr. Osborne, who has a leading role in the European Union renegotiation. Should the talks fail, or voters reject membership in the referendum, his prospects would take a battering. |
| Not so for Mr. Johnson, who once reported from Brussels for The Daily Telegraph as a young and euroskeptic journalist, and who many say would benefit from a no vote. He took a few swipes at the bloc on Tuesday, while arguing that the health of British democracy depended on “getting the right deal now from our European Union partners, as I know David Cameron can.” | Not so for Mr. Johnson, who once reported from Brussels for The Daily Telegraph as a young and euroskeptic journalist, and who many say would benefit from a no vote. He took a few swipes at the bloc on Tuesday, while arguing that the health of British democracy depended on “getting the right deal now from our European Union partners, as I know David Cameron can.” |
| He seemed to be taking aim at Mr. Osborne’s plans to restrict tax credits, which subsidize low earners, changes that are likely to hurt some families on low incomes. | He seemed to be taking aim at Mr. Osborne’s plans to restrict tax credits, which subsidize low earners, changes that are likely to hurt some families on low incomes. |
| “We must ensure that as we reform welfare and we cut taxes that we protect the hardest working and lowest paid: shop workers, cleaners, the people who get up in the small hours or work through the night,” Mr. Johnson said. | “We must ensure that as we reform welfare and we cut taxes that we protect the hardest working and lowest paid: shop workers, cleaners, the people who get up in the small hours or work through the night,” Mr. Johnson said. |
| For now, Mr. Osborne is the man to beat, because his stewardship of the economy since 2010 is credited by many with bringing the Conservatives election victory, but he has long struggled to connect with the public. | For now, Mr. Osborne is the man to beat, because his stewardship of the economy since 2010 is credited by many with bringing the Conservatives election victory, but he has long struggled to connect with the public. |
| “Something about his black curls and pale face,” Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, wrote of Mr. Osborne in 2008, “make him look like a powdered French aristocrat in 1790 staring affrighted from the window of his carriage as the sans-culottes start trying to turn it over.” More recently, others have likened his new haircut to that of Julius Caesar. | “Something about his black curls and pale face,” Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph, wrote of Mr. Osborne in 2008, “make him look like a powdered French aristocrat in 1790 staring affrighted from the window of his carriage as the sans-culottes start trying to turn it over.” More recently, others have likened his new haircut to that of Julius Caesar. |
| Mr. Osborne has made a concerted effort to humanize his image, and, in a preconference interview in The Mail on Sunday, he discussed how he wooed his wife, how he went on a diet for fear of becoming “fat and flabby,” and his fondness for the rap group N.W.A. | Mr. Osborne has made a concerted effort to humanize his image, and, in a preconference interview in The Mail on Sunday, he discussed how he wooed his wife, how he went on a diet for fear of becoming “fat and flabby,” and his fondness for the rap group N.W.A. |