Give the Tory candidates the chance to prove themselves at the conference

David Cameron transformed his chance with his speech to the Party faithful in 2005. Something similar could happen this year

And then there were four. The elimination of Mel Stride from the list of Tory leadership contenders leaves a quartet who will make their pitch to the membership at the Conservative conference in Birmingham at the end of the month.It was reported that they would each be given just 10 minutes on the stage to set out their stall, but this seems to have been increased to 20 minutes. Since the winner could be prime minister in five years’ time, this still seems perfunctory.
The Conservatives suffered their worst defeat in 200 years and lost 251 seats, which knocked the stuffing out of the party. But it remains one of the world’s most successful political movements, and it can recover even within one parliamentary term under the right leader and with a clear understanding of what to do next. The Labour majority looks daunting but was secured with just 33 per cent of the vote. The volatility of the electorate was such that an 80-seat Tory majority was wiped out. The same can happen to Labour.
To that end, plans for the first conference since that defeat must avoid looking lacklustre. This is the opportunity for a proper post-mortem largely screened from public view since few voters are watching. The 20-minute speech rule plus a “yellow card” warning to candidates not to make the contest personal risks sucking the life out of it. 
Longer speeches are not necessarily better and give an advantage to those able to make one without notes, as David Cameron famously did in 2005. Since this is supposed to be a battle for the soul of the party it is important not to feel soulless. Why not stage a proper conference debate between all four candidates to give the members a chance to see how they fare against one another?