Category: Radio 4
Date: 09.11.2005
Printable version
Conservative Party leadership contenders David Davis and David Cameron were head-to-head this morning on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
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The presenter, Martha Kearney, pointed out that their party has to increase its appeal to women if it wants to get back into government.
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She gave each man a minute to lay out their women-friendly policies.
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David Davis said that the party "had lost their trust" through the stories of sleaze; by the party not keeping its promises and by concentrating on issues that only appealed to politicians.
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He wanted to tackle the issues that matter in the 21st century and highlighted good education for all, decent healthcare, childcare, flexible working and proper pension provision for women.
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He said he wanted to see more women in Parliament but did not support positive discrimination. He saw his job as leader to persuade constituencies that adopting women was a good idea rather than compelling them.
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David Cameron was also a supporter of more women in Parliament.
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He agreed that positive discrimination was not the way forward - "no all-women short lists but everything short of that" - which included "mentoring, head-hunting, changing selection procedures".
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He wanted the party to come up with solutions to the problems of unequal pay, flexible working and access to decent pensions.
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He thought there was "too much Punch and Judy in politics and not enough working together... we've got to show we can work together as politicians in this country for the common good."
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David Cameron was a supporter of an A-list of candidates, saying "50/50 would be good" (men/women) but insisted the final decision had to be left to the constituencies, saying: "Positive action is fine, positive discrimination isn't."
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He suggested that selection procedures should be widened to test whether candidates would make good MPs, such as being good listeners, and could engage with people and the issues they thought were important and could they hold a surgery rather than just being dependent on making a speech before the membership.
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David Davis did not agree with A-lists: "I've seen the tension it created in the Labour Party."
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He was in favour of showing constituency parties what the voters were interested in and selecting candidates who were most likely to address these issues.
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He also wanted the removal of the barriers to women being selected.
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David Cameron gave his wife's opinion of the "pale and male" appearance of the Parliamentary party.
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He said: "My wife came to watch me in the House of Commons the other day and said, 'You've just got to realise what the party looks like from the gallery, you look like a bunch of white men and you don't look like the country you represent and you've got to fix it', and she's right."
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He also confessed to spending more time at home talking about finding a new child-minder than discussing the leadership contest.
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Martha Kearney asked David Cameron, whose wife is expecting their third child, if he intended to take two weeks' paternity leave.
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While he wouldn't be drawn on exactly when and how much leave he would take, he insisted: "Your family always comes first." David Davis agreed.
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On a lighter note, David Davis confessed he prefers blondes, despite the fact his wife is brunette.
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And his opponent in the leadership race, David Cameron, admitted when it comes to underwear, he is a briefs man.
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At the end of an interview, Martha surprised the men with a quick-fire question round on their likes and dislikes.
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It emerged that while they disagreed on the best tipple (lager for Cameron, beer for Davis) they were able to find concordance on several points, including that Coldplay should be rated over The Scissor Sisters, Jamie is better than Delia and that, rather than the X-Factor or Strictly Come Dancing, which they both hate, Spooks is the best thing on television.
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And, not surprisingly, though their choice of underwear may differ (Davis is a boxers man), when confronted with a choice between Gordon Brown or Tony Blair, they completely concur.
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"Neither!" says Davis. And Cameron: "The end of them both!"
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Notes to Editors
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To hear the whole interview go to
bbc.co.ok/radio4 and choose the Listen Again option.
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Pictures are available from PA.
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