IDS sets rebel deadline

An embattled Iain Duncan Smith tonight offered his foes 48 hours to come and get him.

In his most extraordinary move of defiance yet, the Tory leader issued a statement setting a deadline for his critics to take him on - or "accept that their game is up".

He said that if by 5.30pm on Wednesday, when the backbench 1922 Committee holds its weekly meeting, 25 MPs had put forward their names to challenge his authority, as the rules require, "I will seek to win a vote of confidence in my leadership".

The statement went on: "Equally, if the 25 names are not forthcoming by that time, I will expect my critics to call a halt to this most damaging episode."

In another challenge to his critics to confront him openly, Mr Duncan Smith declared: "If any colleague considers me unfit to lead this party, I invite them to come and tell me why."

The surprise move from the leadership was the latest and clearest sign of the desperate plight now facing Mr Duncan Smith. It came as word spread that the Opposition Leader's critics were actively recruiting MPs to join the numbers writing letters to Sir Michael Spicer, the chairman of the 1922 Committee. And there was a growing belief that, possibly as early as tonight, the 25 mark would be passed.

Mr Duncan Smith declared that the "fever" around his leadership was "dividing the party and appalling the public". He went on: "It must be ended in the next 48 hours." He also admitted that "I cannot compel the plotters to quit the field". But he said he was "confident that my parliamentary colleagues, our party members and all fair minded people will insist that my detractors accept that their game is up."

Mr Duncan Smith - now facing "judgment time" according to his foes - earlier took the unusual step of calling in his Commons troops and pleading with them, face to face, to give him their loyalty.

With both sides agreeing the crunch could not be long delayed, word emerged that the waverers were being invited, in groups of eight, to meet Mr Duncan Smith to hear him explain why he should stay as leader.

At the same time, the menace to his hold on that leadership grew, with word that his opponents-were actively seeking recruits to sign the 25 letters from MPs required to trigger a vote of confidence. One of the leading critics, MP Derek Conway, pointed to the "chaos" in the party's headquarters. Mr Conway demanded: "If he can't run Conservative Central Office, how the hell can he run the country? It's judgment time for the Tory Party."

The meetings with MPs, in Mr Duncan Smith's room at the Commons, were set to start this afternoon and continue through tomorrow, allowing the Tory leader to see most of the MPs in whose hands his fate now rests. With his political future hanging by a thread Mr Duncan Smith continued to defy all comers.

But both sides agreed that the run-up to a meeting of backbench MPs at the 1922 Committee on Wednesday, will be decisive.

The opposition to his leadership, however, was in danger of descending into farce as the plots and rumours of plots multiplied.

Plot No1 was to muster the MPs required under the party's rules to trigger a vote. Former whip Mr Conway, MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, who yesterday published his letter, was joined by hitherto loyalist MP John Greenway, who pledged to write a letter "if the crunch came".

Plot No 2 would see a group of members of the shadow cabinet going to see Mr Duncan Smith to tell him the game is up. Some were suggesting that could come as early as tonight. But others among both the leader's friends and foes were questioning whether the doubters at the top table would have the courage.

Plot No 3 would see the chief whip, David Maclean, go to the leader with the same message.

Plot No4 would see a series of resignations from the shadow cabinet, either day by day or - the "nuclear option" - four or five together.

All options were being canvassed today. The most likely outcome, according to many, was that the chairman of the 1922 Committee, Sir Michael Spicer, would reveal that he had received the 25 letters required.

But Mr Duncan Smith was able to draw some comfort from a survey of the party's grass roots, carried out by the BBC. That found 87 out of 126 chairmen of Conservative constituency associations declaring they did not want a challenge.

With four plots and no funeral, so far, Mr Duncan Smith challenged his critics to come and get him. He accused a small number of people, motivated either by bitterness or personal ambition, of seeking to "bully" the party into a leadership battle which would rip the Tories apart. In his interview on the BBC's Breakfast With Frost he again made clear he would not go quietly.

The odds were strengthening on shadow chancellor Michael Howard to inherit the crown.