A Major Victory: Hurd Quits As British Foreign Secretary Labor Party Rivals Struggle To Find Potential Challenger
British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd announced his retirement Friday, strengthening Prime Minister John Major’s hand against potential challengers to his leadership of the ruling Conservative Party.
Major, in a surprise announcement Thursday, resigned as leader of his divided party and challenged his critics to come up with a replacement. While it appeared Friday that a candidate from the party’s right wing would materialize, no heavyweight has joined the fray.
Hurd, foreign secretary since October 1989, is widely respected in foreign policy circles as a skillful, intelligent and genteel diplomat.
But he is a particular target of criticism from the party’s right because of his generally positive attitude on Britain’s increased participation in the European Union.
Political observers here believe that his departure may temper some of the opposition to Major, helping to limit the number of abstentions and votes against him when he submits his fate to a vote of Conservatives in Parliament on July 4.
While Hurd, 65, had made known his desire to retire this summer, he said Friday that he decided to act now to remove himself as an issue in Major’s campaign to retain the party leadership. Like all other Cabinet ministers who have spoken so far, he expressed firm support for Major.
The most mentioned possible replacement for Hurd is Malcolm Rifkind, now defense secretary.
As the dust settled Friday in the wake of Major’s announcement, it became clear that he already has in place a hardworking campaign team that is busy organizing public statements of support and working on Conservative backbenchers.
His opponents on the right, by contrast, have been taken by surprise. They had not expected an opportunity to challenge Major until the fall. Friday, they huddled in meetings across London in search of a candidate. The center of speculation was Norman Lamont, a one-time Major ally who became a bitter enemy after the prime minister fired him as chancellor of the exchequer in May 1993.
If any of these contenders can secure sufficient support to embarrass the prime minister, or send the July 4 contest to a second ballot, more serious candidates could emerge, such as Michael Heseltine, the trade secretary who has spent years trying to get into 10 Downing St.; or Michael Portillo, the employment secretary and the Cabinet’s strongest opponent of European integration; or Kenneth Clarke, chancellor of the exchequer.
Under party rules, to prevail on a first ballot Major must receive a majority of the votes of the 327 Conservative members of Parliament and 15 percent more votes than any other contender. Failing that, a second vote would take place on July 11, with only a majority required for victory. A third ballot - a faceoff between the two candidates with the highest number of votes - would take place if necessary on July 13.
Politicians here say that a total of more than 30 or 40 votes against him and abstentions would be politically damaging; a total of 75 to 100 would be careerthreatening.