British Conservatives are set to back the next man to lead their party, even though they believe he cannot win the next general election, according to a poll published.
Right-winger Mr Iain Duncan Smith has won the backing of three times as many party members as Mr Kenneth Clarke, according to a survey by ICM for the Sunday Telegraph newspaper. The poll found that 76 per cent of Conservative Party members would back Mr Duncan Smith, against 24 per cent for Mr Clarke.
The survey was carried out on Thursday and Friday as Mr Duncan Smith's campaign hit turbulence. On Thursday night, the politician dismissed his campaign's vice-chairman in Wales, Mr Edgar Griffin, over his links with the far-right British National Party.
"I don't think the BNP issue has done any damage at all, because we took swift action to deal with Mr Griffin," Mr Duncan Smith told the newspaper. However, only 23 per cent of those polled thought Mr Duncan Smith had a "good chance" of winning the next general election, though even fewer, just 11 per cent, thought Clarke had a good chance of achieving victory.
The poll sample was relatively small, as ICM interviewed just 229 members. Earlier on Saturday, Mr Clarke won the backing of three prominent Conservative student leaders. The Sunday Telegraph published a letter from 12 chairmen of university Conservative branches in support of Mr Duncan Smith.