The Conservative Party leadership election of 2001

The leadership election of 2001 was the first to be decided by a ballot of the whole Conservative Party membership, under new procedures adopted in 1998. A number of weaknesses were revealed in these procedures. The media played an important part in a contest that was characterised by a bitterness reflecting ideological and factional divisions which have beset the party for more than a decade. Party policy towards the EU, specifically the euro, figured prominently. The victor, lain Duncan Smith, was the only one of the five candidates who had no ministerial experience.