The race for the leadership of the Conservatives was thrown open today after frontrunner David Davis received only a lukewarm reaction to his main pitch to party members.
Bookmakers lengthened the odds on Mr Davis's chances of winning shortly after the speech, which left many delegates underwhelmed.
Following impressive performances from rival candidates David Cameron and Ken Clarke, the SAS-trained Mr Davis took to the annual conference floor needing a strong showing.
The shadow home secretary said the world had moved on and the Conservative party had to move with it.
"I want Tories to walk tall again. I'm proud to be a Conservative, proud of our history, proud of what we achieve for the country," he said.
"I'm not going to blow with every gust of wind. I'm not going to set policy to suit every cause or junk my principles when they seem inconvenient."
But delegates said he lacked passion and bookmakers William Hill reduced Mr Davis's odds from 1/2 to 8/11 but he was still the favourite while the odds for Mr Cameron were cut from 4/1 to 3/1. The bookmakers put Mr Clarke in second place with odds of 5/2.
"We thought Mr Davis's speech was outclassed by fellow contenders Mr Clarke and Mr Cameron and we felt we should lengthen his odds," Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said.
Mr Davis and Liam Fox, the ex-party co-chairman, are the last of the five declared contenders for the leadership job to deliver speeches to the conference.
Mr Fox, who will speak later today, is expected to nail his colours firmly to the right of the party.
Analysts say the party has a mountain to climb before it can win the next election, expected in 2009, needing a radical rethink like that undertaken by Mr Blair and Mr Brown for Labour in the 1990s to recapture the political centre-ground.
In the last two elections the Conservative Party has focused on right-wing populist issues like immigration to distinguish itself from Labour.
They gained just 33 per cent of the vote in May's poll, little improved on their showing in 2001.