New confusion over IDS

Opposition Leader Iain Duncan Smith was in fresh difficulty over his past today after it emerged that he was registered on his birth certificate as plain Ian.

The discrepancy was confirmed by the Conservative Party, who said that their leader had later changed his name in homage to his "passionate" commitment to Scotland.

The news that Mr Duncan Smith had awarded himself an extra "i" came hard on the heels of the disclosure that his academic career had also been embroidered.

The Tory leader records in Who's Who that he attended the University of Perugia, an ancient institution founded in 1308.

But according to BBC2's Newsnight, it appears that he studied at the rather less historic Perugia language school, the Universita per Stranieri. He departed without a degree.

The accusation is another headache for Mr Duncan Smith as he struggles to stem the despair among Tory MPs and assert his authority as leader.