MAKING THE CHOICE

by RAY FLEMING
THE headlines have been dominated this week by contests for two important public roles and it is extremely satisfactory to be able to report that, in the more important of the two events, Mr David Cameron has been chosen to play James Bond in the forthcoming film of Casino Royale. This brings to an end an exhaustive worldwide search for an actor to succeed the legendary Sean Connery.
The producers acknowledged that their earlier choices of “Wild” Bill Hague and Iain “Fleming” Smith had been less than successful and that the gamble with “Mike” Howard as an “older” Bond with something of the night about him had been a disaster. Attention now turns to the battle for the leadership of the Conservative Party in which it is thought that the 37-year-old Daniel Craig is favourite although Jude Law is believed to have a greater appeal to the constituencies while Clive Owen still has an outside chance. BUT, seriously folks: it seems that David Cameron may have dissipated a lot of the support he gained at the Conservative Party conference by his hamfisted handling of the drug issue. Although he may have intended to impress by showing himself as someone who would resist press intrusion into his private life, the result has been that most people think he probably did take drugs while at university but won't admit it. As Jason Moore said in this space yesterday, no one in public life can choose when they want attention and when they don't. Even in France, the long media tradition of ignoring politicians' private lives has broken down. Kenneth Clarke has advised Mr Cameron to stick to his convictions about privacy but then, given his day job of selling tobacco to the Third World, he would say that, wouldn't he? Tuesday is the first round of voting, Thursday the second and final round. Two names go to the constituencies and the result will be declared on 6 December.