UK News 08-10-2002 Tories Must Change Or Die who: Conservative Party chairwoman Theresa May what: Says Tories have not learned lessons of failure where: BOURNEMOUTH when: Yesterday snippet: The new Conservative Party chairwoman Theresa May told Tory delegates gathered in Bournemouth yesterday that they had been "slaughtered" in the last election because they had gone to the polls "unchanged, unrepentant and just plain unattractive", reports The Scotsman. And she accused them of failing to address the problems that had led to John Major`s defeat more than five years ago. The Times calls it "a powerful address" and "star performance of the day" while The Guardian`s Simon Hoggart notes that because she was wearing black against a black background she "looked like one of those disembodied faces with waving hands who occasionally turn up on Star Trek to give intergalactic orders". The Mirror, meanwhile, says it was "a pathetic plea for unity and for an end to extremism". "You know what some people call us – the nasty party," she said, coining a phrase repeated by all of the morning papers. "You know that`s unfair but it`s the people out there we need to convince – and we can only do that by avoiding behaviour and attitudes that play into the hands of our opponents. No more glib moralising, no more hypocritical finger-wagging." The Sun`s Trevor Kavanagh is impressed. With this speech she has "walked out of the Tory shadows and into the spotlight as a genuine political star" and we are informed that the 46 year-old Mrs May "is known in the Commons for her colourful leather jackets and bright pink shoes. An Oxford graduate and vicar`s daughter, she went on to become a City high-flier. She is married but has no children." [... more]

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