Britain: Mr Iain Duncan Smith again vowed to take his party to election victory yesterday even as a senior Conservative MP predicted his leadership would be "at and end" in the next 48 hours.
The Tory leader gave a spirited performance on the BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, telling his opponents to "shove off" and insisting he would not be "bullied" into resignation.
Mr Derek Conway, a former government whip, predicted his fellow MPs were ready to launch their leadership challenge and said the necessary 25 signatures would be available by tomorrow to force a confidence vote.
Confirming that he had written to Sir Michael Spicer, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, requesting a vote, Mr Conway said: "This soap opera has run long enough and has got to reach a conclusion. I believe Iain Duncan Smith's leadership will be at an end in the next 48 hours." Despite a BBC survey showing unexpectedly high levels of support for "IDS" among constituency chairmen, Mr Crispin Blunt MP, confirmed that he, too, had formally written to Sir Michael requesting a vote.
A third MP, Mr John Greenway, urged Mr Duncan Smith to initiate a clear-the-air vote himself. The Ryedale MP said: "I think it is for him now to demonstrate that he has the courage to call for that vote of confidence and, if he does, I think support for him will grow." However, despite this declaration of support Mr Greenway said "if the crunch came" he, too, would probably write to Sir Michael requesting that the issue be put to the parliamentary party.
Mr Duncan Smith told Sir David Frost he would not initiate a confidence vote, saying he "earned the right" to lead the party into the next election, and suggesting the leadership challenge was driven by "a small number of people" driven by personal ambition, anger and bitterness.
However, Mr Conway claimed it was this "continuing bluster and arrogance" which finally persuaded him to write his letter. "He is not up to it. The British public isn't buying it. It is sheer arrogance to say or, even worse, believe there is only one possible leader." Mr Duncan Smith's former director of strategy Mr Dominic Cummings yesterday said his old boss was "incompetent", and had to be replaced. Party chairman Mrs Theresa May had to fend-off reports that Baroness Thatcher had described her and Mr Duncan Smith as the worst leadership team in the party's history. A fourth major donor, Sir Michael Bishop, executive chairman of the British Midland airline, warned "no money of any substance" would flow into the party's coffers until the leadership issue was resolved.