Michaelhoward, the Conservative Party leader, had an intimate chat with the readers of Cosmopolitan, a magazine that offers young women advice on how to get their dream man. Last week over breakfast, in the interview, Mr Howard said that he would support a reduction in the outer limit at which women can have an abortion, from 24 to 20 weeks. It seems unlikely that this will lead to commitment at the ballot box from Cosmo's fickle readers: the same issue offered advice on "how to date 8 men at once-and get away with it." But Mr Howard's stance on abortion became a bigger deal when it was welcomed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the most senior representative of the Catholic church in Britain. Is Britain, wondered journalists hunting for ways to enliven reporting on the dreary pre-election campaign, about to become like America, where Republicans have turned distaste for abortion into a vote-winner?
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