Norris the Tory favourite

Former minister Steven Norris is virtually certain to become the Tory candidate for Mayor of London after a comfortable win in the party's selection meeting.

The gathering of party members last night saw the five candidates whittled down to two. London Assembly member Roger Evans, a relative unknown, was picked to go forward with Mr Norris to the final ballot.

Another former minister, Richard Ottaway, was eliminated, along with former councillor Andrew Boff and the only woman candidate, Victoria Borwick. The two survivors will now go forward to a postal ballot of all London Tory party members, with the result announced on 16 February.

Last night's meeting attended by several hundred London party members was closed to the media. However, those present said that it was largely good-humoured and that Mr Norris, cheered-on by an unusually strong contingent of younger activists, faced little challenge.

His eventual selection, however, could pose problems for Iain Duncan Smith and the party Right. Mr Norris, on the Conservative's modernising wing, has several times been at odds with Mr Duncan Smith and with his predecessor, William Hague, over the need to make the party more inclusive.

In answer to one questioner last night, Mr Norris affirmed his loyalty to the leadership. But he also pointed out that he would have to secure the backing of around a quarter-ofamillion voters who do not customarily vote Tory, if he is to beat Ken Livingstone in 2004. The rebuff for Mr Ottaway, who made it to the last three, is a blow for the former London minister, who had mustered an array of influential party backers. He was seen as one of the few challengers who might have given Mr Norris a run for his money.

Mr Evans draws his support from the Right of the party but he lacks anything like Mr Norris's public profile-Mr Duncan Smith, meanwhile, moved to defuse another potential trouble spot in his party with a compromise over the future of Section 28, the law banning the promotion of homosexuality in schools.

Under a formula agreed by the shadow cabinet last night, MPs and peers will be allowed a free vote when it is debated in the Commons.