THE drama and tension that accompanied the last two contests for the leadership of the Tory Party is lacking this time - since the general election has reduced the Conservatives to a virtual parliamentary sideshow.

But if the thrill that accompanied Margaret Thatcher's spectacular downfall and John Major's back-me-or-sack-me challenge is missing from today's vote among Tory MPs, the need for the party to have a strong, unifying leader is evident.

And this is not simply for the sake of the Tories' fortunes and the party's own need for recovery - though that is a mighty task as the electorally-lethal rift between right and left still remains apparent.

But it is also for the sake of good democracy, thorough debate and healthy political restraint that the country needs a potent and popular leader of the Conservative Party to emerge.

For what British politics lacks now is an active opposition. And what it needs is a Tory leader who, for all the lack of numbers on the benches opposite Labour, will become an effective focus of the alternative to the rubber-stamp government that the country otherwise faces. The betting has former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke as the clear favourite to win most votes today. The only left-winger in the field, he is also the candidate with the most experience of government and is said to be the man Labour fears most.

But he may have to struggle through run-off votes next week before he can be certain of victory as the right-wing offers the party's MPs three choices in the form of John Redwood, Michael Howard and Peter Lilley and the young pretender William Hague presents them with a chance to skip a generation to give the tired Tories the youth boost that Labour got with Tory Blair.

All are men with ambition, but the Tories and Britain need a party leader with ability and charisma - a blend that, alas, does not seem greatly evident in today's line-up, but one that needs to be found or develop fast for the sake of the Tories and real democracy.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.