23 years ago this month Iain Duncan Smith was elected Tory leader replacing William Hague. Just over two years later on 29th October 2003 he was gone.
He was replaced by Michael Howard. As Tony Benn noted in his Diary at the time while Howard would be a more capable leader than IDS no one, including the Tories, thought he would be the next PM. He was there while they worked out who might be.
Howard lost the 2005 Election and made way for Dave Cameron who just about won in 2010 with the help of the Liberal Democrats.
The Tories have had eight leaders in the last 25 years and IDS is a warning to the current Tory leadership contenders. Whoever wins is unlikely to win the next Election and they may even be replaced well before that.
A significant problem for the Tories is who might be the leader after next. With 121 MPs, a significant number of the better known are Truss tainted and less than 20 were around before 2010 and have experience of Opposition.
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