Peter Oborne

IDS has a plausible strategy. A leadership contest now would be an unseemly farce

IDS has a plausible strategy. A leadership contest now would be an unseemly farce

issue 02 November 2002

To turn this week to the Conservative party, rather than deal with matters of consequence. On Wednesday morning George Jones, political editor of the Daily Telegraph, reported a ‘sharp slump in morale’ in the Tory party at Westminster. He stated that plotters are taking soundings to discover whether they can secure the necessary 25 signatures from Tory MPs to launch a vote of no confidence in Iain Duncan Smith. He judged that backbiting among Tory MPs ‘is the most serious since Lady Thatcher was forced to stand down as prime minister 12 years ago’.

George Jones is a sober and fastidious journalist. Though he does not name the conspirators, there is no reason to doubt his word. The Telegraph political editor accurately conjures up the mood in the Commons. It is only three weeks since the Tory conference at Bournemouth, an event which went far better than anyone expected.

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