The Ken Clarke candidacy is a venerable tradition of the Conservative party stretching back to the fall of Major, he never wins because the right rallies round a single candidate to stop him – and they end up with someone like IDS for their trouble.

Ken is 65, this is his last chance to stand for the leadership. The word is that he is prepared to suppress his Europhilia for the chance. Its not much to surrender since the chances of Britain joining the stumbling Euro project are possibly less than the probability of the Italians exiting the Euro. It would at a stroke remove the black ball against him being leader of the Tories for many centrists.

He is popular, he has the common touch, he has common sense, he is clubbable, competent and generally the type of guy you wouldn’t mind meeting in a Jazz club. He has a following on the Tory benches, he is popular in the party and more importantly he is popular in the country. He is generally to the left of most Tory activists – but they may be prepared to forgive his TRG membership for the chance of power. His candidacy would wipe out David Cameron’s chances at a stroke, (ignore the Rifkind candidacy, everyone else is), if the right divided between Basher and the overestimated Doc Fox, it could be his big chance.

KC’s Sunshine Band is the press – he is popular even with traditional Tory enemies. But will the dominant Tory Eurosceptic wing give him a chance or simply veto him? If perhaps he promised to make a hardline Eurosceptic his shadow foreign minister, (somone like William Cash would be perfect), he would be clearly signalling his willingness to give up his Euro ambitions. Throw in a couple of Notting Hillbillies into the cabinet and you have the makings of a formidable electoral threat to Gordon Brown.

KC could be singing again;

I’m your boogie man that’s what I am
I’m here to do whatever I can
Be it early mornin’ late afternoon
Or at midnight it’s never too soon
To wanna please you to wanna please you
To wanna do it all all for you…