Conservatives elect Cameron to take on Blair

DAVID CAMERON stormed to victory as the new leader of Britain’s Conservative Party yesterday - and promised his party would change to woo back voters and end Labour’s eight years in power.

He beat his rival David Davis by a margin of more than two to one, taking 134,446 votes to 64,398.

He becomes the fourth leader of his party since 1997 to take on Tony Blair and after the result was announced, spoke to supporters without notes, delivering a passionate rallying cry. The ballot result was declared at London’s Royal Academy of Arts.

Mr Cameron said it was a “huge privilege and an honour and a great responsibility” to take on the leadership.

“I will do it with everything I have, to the best of my ability for my party and for my country,” he said.

“I want us to give to this country a modern, compassionate Conservatism that is right for our times and right for our country.”

He paid tribute to the other leadership contenders, “especially” Mr Davis, who he said would be “a vital part of the team in the future.”

He said the election had been good for the party and shown a wealth of talent.

He also paid tribute to former Tory leader Michael Howard for giving the party a sense of discipline, professionalism and purpose.

Mr Cameron told cheering supporters: “I said when I launched my campaign that we needed to change in order to win. Now that I have won, we will change.”

He said nine out of 10 Conservative MPs were white men and he wanted to change that and address the under-representation of women MPs.

Mr Cameron, at 39, two years younger than Mr Blair when he took over the Labour leadership, added: “We need to change the way we think, we need to change the way we behave.”