DAVID Cameron looks likely to receive the backing of West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox as the Tory leadership contest moves into its final stages. Mr Cox said he is almost certain to back the party?s young, modernising candidate, despite having voted for right winger Liam Fox in the first two rounds of the contest ? Dr Fox was eliminated from the contest in the three-cornered fight with Cameron and David Davis last Thursday. Mr Cox, who was elected five months ago, said: ?It is not an easy decision, but I am almost certainly going to back David Cameron. But he added: ?I might change my mind. I shall take some time to look at the way in which each candidate faces the trials and tribulations of the next few weeks.? Mr Cox said the previous front runner, Tory Home Affairs spokesman David Davis, was a ?tremendously competent performer?, but he was not sure people would find him inspiring enough. Cameron, he said, was not so experienced, but was an ?exceptionally talented man?. ?It is a difficult call,? said Mr Cox. Mr Cox said he backed Dr Fox in the first two votes by MPs because he was talking about a ?compassionate modern Conservatism?, and had experience in a junior ministerial post and as a front bench spokesman. West Devon and Torridge Conservative chairman Ken Riddick, said that if Dr Fox had won through to the final ballot, he believed the majority of the constituency?s 1,000 members would have backed him. But he could not predict whether members would show a clear preference for either Cameron or Davis. As to his own vote, he added: ?I shall wait until the hustings.? One of the planned hustings is likely to take place in Exeter. Ballots will be sent out to party members in early November and the final result will be announced on December 6.
