Tories to name leader to challenge Blair

LONDON, Tuesday (Reuters) Britain's opposition Conservatives are expected to choose David Cameron, the party's youthful education spokesman, as their new leader on Tuesday to try to revive their fortunes and challenge Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The centre-right party, which dominated 20th century British politics under such leaders as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, is struggling to drag itself back from the political wilderness after losing three successive elections to Blair.

Favourite Cameron, if chosen by the party's approximately 260,000 members, will be the fifth Conservative leader in eight years.

He will have about four years before the next election - due by 2010 - and support for Blair's Labour Party is waning.

The prime minister's parliamentary majority was more than halved in May's election, attributed to anger over the Iraq war and a perceived lack of improvement in schools and hospitals. Cameron, 39, is in contention for the leadership with 56-year-old David Davis, the party's experienced home affairs spokesman who started out as favourite.

Right-winger Davis's campaign lost momentum after a lacklustre performance at the party's conference in October which threw open the race. Cameron has topped most polls for nearly two months.

Supporters believe Cameron, who has portrayed himself as a moderniser, can widen the party's appeal to voters in the centre ground in the way Blair remodelled Labour in the 1990s. In the May election, the Conservatives gained just 33 percent of the vote, barely an improvement from 2001. He is vague on policy detail but analysts believe Cameron would be prepared to invest in public services rather than immediately cut taxes to win back voters.

He emphasises the caring side of Conservatism and has pledged to support Labour on policies with which he agrees while his Eurosceptic views have won him popularity in his party.