More Tories call for leadership vote
More Tory MPs have come forward to demand the removal of Iain Duncan Smith from the helm of the party.
MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, Derek Conway, a former whip, joined Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, who resigned from the front bench in May, yesterday in calling for a no confidence vote in the leader.
Mr Blunt, an outspoken opponent of Duncan Smith, said: “We cannot leave him or the party in the position that we are in, with constant speculation around his position.
“I think the only way that he can get that authority is a vote of confidence by the parliamentary party.
“He will either win that, and then the issue will be put to bed, or he will lose it and we will then get on and choose a new leader for the party.”
Mr Conway said yesterday: “I think it’s in his own interests and in the interests of the party that he should. Because part of the problem with the electoral system we’ve got in the Tory party [is] that Iain was elected with only a third of MP support.”
His remarks comes as Sir Patrick Cormack, a member of the 1922 Tory backbench committee, one of the so-called “men in grey suits,” also suggested Mr Duncan Smith should pre-empt a no confidence vote.
Staffordshire MP Sir Patrick Cormack wrote to Mr Duncan Smith expressing his concern that the lack of unity among his 163 MPs may harm the Tories’ chances of mounting a serious challenge at the next general election.
Writing in The Telegraph on Saturday, he said: “The only way to address this issue is to have a vote of confidence in the leader. My own view is that Mr Duncan Smith would be serving himself and the party if he called for a secret vote and did not wait for others.”
This week Sir Philip Mawer, the Commons standards commissioner, leads the parliamentary investigation into allegations that Iain Duncan Smith employed his wife Betsy at his private office, despite the fact that she reportedly did little or no work. Payment for non-work is contrary to internal Tory party regulations.
Theresa May, the party chairman, Owen Paterson, Mr Duncan Smith’s parliamentary aide, and Mark MacGregor, the party’s former chief executive, are likely to be called in for questions.
On Friday, the BBC pulled an interview with Theresa May, the party chairman, due for broadcast on Sunday’s The Politics Show, after pressure was exerted on her from Conservative Central Office.
Tory management may have been sensitive to claims that Mrs May was ‘not happy’ with the management of Tory leader’s expenses claim on behalf of his wife.
Tory leader of the Lords, Lord Strathclyde, stepped in instead and defended Mr Duncan Smith.
He said: “Iain Duncan Smith says he is innocent and I believe him, and I believe he will be cleared, and then we can get on with being a strong alternative government in waiting.
“These monstrous allegations against the leader of the party must be sorted out. The sooner we get this cleared up, the better.”
Conservative foreign affairs spokesman, Alan Duncan, said yesterday that Tory divisions were “exaggerated and subsiding” and Mr Duncan Smith should carry on as leader.
