Hope over experience

摘要

It is a mighty odd business. Next week the votes of just 198 men and women will help determine an election setting out to identify a man they hope will be a future British prime minister. They are as sophisticated an electorate as you could find, yet over the past 15 years they and their party have fallen into a dismal habit of backing the wrong man and the entire country has suffered because of it. Now is their chance to put that right. The procedure for picking the next Conservative leader is strictly for enthusiasts. In a pair of elimination contests starting on Tuesday, Tory mps will select two names to go before the party's 250,000 or so members, who will then have until December 5th to choose their man-there are no women.