Britain's struggling opposition Conservative Party united after more than a decade of feuding to make Michael Howard, a witty and articulate former Cabinet minister, its new leader.

Howard, 62, who stood unopposed to succeed Duncan Smith at the helm of the once-mighty party, promised to "lead from the center" to challenge Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.

"If we are to win we must work together as a team. We must rediscover the virtues of mutual support and friendship," Howard said in his acceptance speech.

"Our challenge is to build up ourselves as a credible and appealing alternative government. Of course, it will be tough, uphill work. The hard slog's only just beginning."

Sir Michael Spicer, chairman of the 1922 Committee representing all Tory lawmakers, confirmed that no candidate had come forward to challenge Howard by Thursday's deadline.

Senior Tories hope the Cambridge-educated lawyer will help the party claw its way back up the opinion polls. Wracked by feuds ever since Margaret Thatcher was deposed as prime minister in 1990, the party suffered crushing election defeats in 1997 and 2001.

Despite Blair's difficulties over an unpopular U.S.-led war in Iraq and discontent over domestic policy, the Conservatives continue to trail the ruling Labor Party in opinion polls.

"I think it is the beginning of the real resurgence of Conservative fortunes," said Liam Fox, a Tory lawmaker and Howard's campaign manager. "The government might rightly now contemplate the end of their days."

Howard, who served as a junior minister under Thatcher and as Britain's home affairs minister under John Major, has warned the party it faces a long, steep climb.

"We have begun to renew our policies, but we are still only in the foothills of our ascent. The hard climb still lies head," he said after Duncan Smith was ousted in a secret ballot last week.

The Tories dominated British politics for most of the 20th century, most recently from 1979 to 1997.

Under Thatcher, who championed individual initiative and the free market, the party commanded an unassailable majority in the House of Commons, with 397 seats to Labor's 209 in the early 1980s.

But the party's popularity slipped throughout the 1990s, due to an unpopular new local tax, internal feuding over European integration, an economic recession and repeated sleaze scandals which damaged its credibility.

It has failed to recover from a landslide election defeat in 1997, repeated in 2001, and now has only 165 seats in the Commons to Labor's 410.

Party membership has slumped massively since the 1950s, when it stood at almost a million. Officials are cagey about today's level, saying it stands at more than 300,000.

Anthony Seldon, a historian and author of "Conservative Century," puts membership below 100,000 and notes that the average age of party members is over 60. Howard was right "in saying it is going to be a long, long road to climb," he said.

The party, seen by many as too right wing and out of touch, is moving toward the center in the hope of winning back voters who jumped ship to Labor in 1997. Labor was traditionally a blue collar, working class party, but under Blair it adopted many of the Tory's free market principles and courted big business and the middle class.

The Tory platform says they would cut government red tape and hope to reduce taxes. The party opposes joining the European single currency, says it will impose an annual quota for refugees, recruit 40,000 extra police officers and help finance treatment for people who choose private over state health care.

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