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Tuesday, 5 November, 2002, 13:22 GMT
Duncan Smith statement in full
![]() Tory MPs challenged Mr Duncan Smith's stance
Here is the full text of Iain Duncan Smith's statement on 'attempts to undermine' his leadership of the Conservative Party.
A year ago the Conservative Party chose me overwhelmingly as its first democratically elected leader. By electing me the Conservative membership recognised both the need for change but also the need to take the entire Conservative Party along that road.
I have embarked on the necessary and sometimes painful process of modernisation. I have rededicated the Conservatives to improving our public services. I have also begun to reconnect the Conservative Party with the views and attitudes of contemporary Britain. I have never underestimated the magnitude of the task before us, but nor have I flinched from my resolve that this is a road which the entire party must travel. Pull together I have sought to do all this with courtesy, decency and honesty, respecting those who would like me to move faster and those who feel threatened by our moving at all.
For a few, last night's vote was not about adoption but an attempt to challenge my mandate to lead this party. We cannot go on in this fashion. We have to pull together or we will hang apart. Unite or die If we are to be taken seriously as an opposition, as an alternative government for this country, we have to work together. I cannot allow the efforts of a dedicated team in Parliament or of hundreds of thousands of hardworking volunteers to be sabotaged by self-indulgence or indiscipline. The Conservative Party wants to be led. It elected me to lead it in the direction I am now going. It will not look kindly on people who put personal ambitions before the interests of the party. My message is simple and stark, unite or die.
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![]() See also:
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04 Nov 02 | Politics
04 Nov 02 | Politics
04 Nov 02 | Politics
03 Nov 02 | Politics
04 Nov 02 | Politics
16 Oct 02 | UK
04 Oct 02 | Politics
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