With jokes and rugby, London's mayor reminds party he is a contender

By Elizabeth Piper and William James MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - In between jokes, mocking asides at rivals and a running rugby metaphor, London's mayor, Boris Johnson, sent a more serious message to the ruling Conservative party on Tuesday -- he is still a contender for the leadership. At the party's annual conference in the northern city of Manchester, speeches and comments by several leading members have all but brought into the open the jostling for position to take over from David Cameron when he steps down by 2020. Cameron has been criticised by party members for unwittingly kicking off a long leadership contest by saying he will step aside before the next parliamentary election. Most hopefuls play down their ambitions and swear their loyalty to the prime minister, but their behaviour and speeches are being pored over by the media and party faithful. The man widely seen as the frontrunner, Chancellor George Osborne, staked his claim to the political "centre ground" on Monday, borrowing policies from the main opposition Labour Party in what some said was part of his leadership bid. Johnson, whose wit and dishevelled charm belie his ambition, also made a bid for the political centre in a speech on Tuesday in which he presented himself as a "one nation" Conservative, or Tory -- compassionate yet tough. "The extreme left is always willing to believe the worst about this country ... it is we Tories who are always ready to believe the best about the British people, what we stand for and what we can do and that is why I am a Conservative, a one-nation conservative," he told a packed hall to loud applause. Johnson took aim at the Labour Party, under veteran lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn, as "militants with vested interests and indeed interesting vests" in a reference to its far-left leader's liking for wearing a vest under his shirt. But after using a derogatory term "crusties" to describe the unkempt appearance of anti-capitalist and anti-austerity protesters outside the conference hall, his trademark banter gave way to a tough message on migration and the European Union -- issues that polarise the right and left of the Conservatives. "FORMIDABLY CLEVER" To loud applause, Johnson, known by most in Britain simply by his first name Boris, said it was not up to the EU to decide how many immigrants the country should take in, criticising a policy taken in Brussels to try to ease a crisis in Europe where hundreds of thousands of migrants have fled. "It is a question about who decides; it is about who is ultimately responsible; it is about control," said Johnson, running his hand through his tousled mop of blond hair. He also said the Conservative Party should protect the most vulnerable, lowest-paid workers, in what could be seen as a criticism of Osborne's cuts on tax credits, a way of redistributing money to low-earning families and workers. "We make sure that as we reform welfare and we cut taxes that we protect the hardest working and lowest paid, the retail staff, the cleaners, the people who get up in the small hours or work through the night because they have dreams about what they and their families can achieve," he said. Many party members see Johnson, a contemporary of Cameron at exclusive private school Eton and elite Oxford University, as a better fit for party leader and more able than Osborne, who also went to Oxford, to appeal to a broader swathe of society. "He's formidably clever but he can also speak to anyone," said one Conservative lawmaker, backing Johnson for leader. But in a poll of Conservative Party members conducted by the ConservativeHome website on Monday, Johnson was ranked fourth to become the new party leader, with 32 percent backing Osborne. Nicky Morgan, education secretary, has said she may run, while business secretary Sajid Javid and interior minister Theresa May are other likely contenders. Some fear the Latin-spouting upper-class eccentric may not be taken seriously, although Cameron said he would get a position in the cabinet after ending his term as mayor next year. "There's always a leadership pitch with Boris," said Eric Holford, a Conservative candidate in next May's Scottish parliament elections. "He can carry the party. The only problem he may have is whether people can take him altogether seriously." (Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Raissa Kasolowsky)