Ancram pleads for Tories to back IDS

Tory deputy leader Michael Ancram today pleaded to his party to stay loyal and give Iain Duncan Smith more time to come up with vote-winning policies.

Party chiefs had been thrown on to the defensive after a former Conservative adviser warned that the leader was failing to set out a clear alternative to Labour's ideas.

Rupert Darwall, a former aide to ex-Chancellor Norman Lamont, urged the Tories to attack Labour's tax-and-spend policies and stick to their core beliefs.

But Mr Ancram said: "We are not going to make easy promises now and then get caught out nearer the election when people see we can't deliver them.

"We are going to articulate the policies over the next two or three years to deliver our principles in a way that people can put their trust in."