PARLIAMENTARIANISM--THE ROLLING RECALL:

Tory rebellion as MPs move to oust IDS: More than 25 will trigger leadership ballot (James Cusick, 10/12/03, Sunday Herald)

IAIN Duncan Smith will face a challenge to his leadership of the Conservative Party later this week when it is expected that “substantially more than 25 Tory MPs” will call for a vote of confidence in the Tory leadership.

In what is expected to be a bloody fight, with lawyers brought in to legally dissect the new election rules, the dissidents believe that a leadership challenge must be mounted almost immediately to allow any chance of fighting the next election under a new leader.

To head off the threat of deselection, some of the plotters are understood to have taken legal advice, even before last week’s Blackpool conference, to see if an anonymous but verifiable “naming process” would be allowed under the new rules.

This weekend, the party’s chief whip, David Maclean, has said he will subject any suspected plotters to a “career development interview” and report any “disloyal suspicions” to their constituency chairman.

Six MPs are expected to be called in by Maclean this week including John Maples, Francis Maude, Andrew Mackay, John Bercow, Douglas Hogg and Michael Portillo.

Putting new lipstick on your pig won't make her any more presentable. It's a putatively conservative party with no conservative convictions. It is not needed.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 12, 2003 5:34 PM