Britain: The embattled Conservative leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, suffered a body blow last night as the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner opened a formal inquiry into whether he improperly employed his wife on the parliamentary payroll.
A defiant "IDS" immediately welcomed the inquiry, declaring himself "an honest and straightforward man", confident of vindication and determined to send his accusers back to "the shadows". However, confirmation of the inquiry - triggered by a formal complaint by the acclaimed investigative journalist, Michael Crick - raised speculation about a possible no-confidence motion by 25 dissident MPs ahead of a potentially crucial meeting of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee at Westminster tonight.
Some party loyalists thought the announcement by the Commissioner, Sir Philip Mawer, might actually offer Mr Duncan Smith a respite and make it difficult for MPs plotting rebellion to advance their plans ahead of publication of his findings.
However, the party leader implicitly accepted the growing question mark over his future during a BBC television interview when he failed to challenge or dispute reports circulating at Westminster that three members of his shadow cabinet had met with supporters to consider a possible leadership challenge.
On Monday the Conservative deputy leader, Mr Michael Ancram, spoke of "malevolent forces" at work within the party seeking to discredit Mr Duncan Smith with suggestions that his wife, Betsy, did little or no work in return for a salary of £15,000 paid by the taxpayer.
And the leadership's strategy has been to blame disaffected modernisers - code for supporters of Mr Michael Portillo and Mr Kenneth Clarke - for colluding with Mr Crick to sabotage last week's party conference in Blackpool.
However, well-placed Tory sources say the leadership knows that neither man is likely to inherit the leadership, and that the three obvious potential beneficiaries from Mr Duncan Smith's difficulties are three shadow cabinet members, Mr David Davis, Mr Michael Howard and Mr Oliver Letwin.
Speaking on the BBC last night Mr Crick also said that, while some of his sources might have had political motivations, others were simply "disgusted and dismayed by his [Mr Duncan Smith's] behaviour and what it says about his character."
Mr Crick - who accepted he would "look a bit silly" if the Tory leader was cleared of any wrong-doing - confirmed that he would be meeting Sir Philip and suggesting a number of lines of inquiry.
In response to the Comissioner's insistence that anonymous sources would have to "break cover" if they wished their evidence to be considered, Mr Crick said he believed four such sources would do so in the next few days.
The journalist, who yesterday followed up his original dossier by giving the Commissioner a seven-page internal Conservative document on the matter , said it would be "very serious indeed" if it was confirmed that any individuals had been subjected to pressure to make statements they did not want to make about the affair.
At the weekend Ms Vanessa Gearson, a deputy director of Conservative Central Office and a parliamentary candidate previously employed in the leader's office, retained separate legal representation "to protect her integrity" after allegedly coming under such pressure to support Mr Duncan Smith's assertion that his wife worked the requisite hours to earn her salary.
An angry Mr Duncan Smith said last night: "These cowards have gone after my wife as a way of getting after me, and I think it's intolerable. I love my wife deeply. Anybody who wants to come after me, come after me, but you don't go after my wife. I will never ever use my wife as a tool in my political life."
And he vowed: "These cowards once and for all will be consigned permanently to the shadows, and I will take this party forward."