Portillo laments 'worst Tory conference'

Michael Portillo today plunged the knife into Iain Duncan Smith by branding this week's Tory conference the worst in living memory.

He said it was "horrible, dejected and miserable" and claimed it was hard to find anybody at the Blackpool gathering who was not plotting to remove the Conservative leader.

The former defence secretary said he did not want to challenge for the top job himself - but his comments will encourage rebel MPs who will decide this weekend whether to launch a bid to topple Mr Duncan Smith.

Mr Portillo, a Right-winger turned Tory moderniser, had claimed he would not talk to the media during his visit to Blackpool, but broke his vow of silence to give a short interview to the BBC.

He described the conference as "horrible, dejected, miserable, talking about the leadership all the time - it was the worst conference anyone could remember".

He added: "I arrived and somebody said it was going very well. But he didn't mean that the conference was going well, he meant that his own agenda for changing the leadership was going well."

Mr Portillo said he did not believe Mr Duncan Smith would lose his job.

But his carefully timed remarks appeared designed to stir up revolt before MPs return to parliament next week.

Leading rebels - including former Treasury minister John Maples - are to be hauled in by chief whip David Maclean for a "career development interview".

Mr Maclean and the party's high command hope that their high-profile disciplinary move will "lance the boil" of what they claim is a plot involving only a handful of MPs.

But others claim up to 15 backbenchers have already written to backbench leader Sir Michael Spicer to protest about Mr Duncan Smith's leadership. If 25 do so, a vote of confidence will be triggered which, if he loses, would kickstart a full-scale leadership election.

Mr Duncan Smith used his keynote conference speech to hit back hard at his internal critics, warning them that plotting against him was helping Tony Blair. He declared: "My mission is to take the Conservative Party back to government. I won't allow anything or anyone to get in my way."

His speech won a rapturous reception from activists - but just minutes later senior shadow cabinet minister Tim Yeo warned him his leadership was still under threat.

Trade spokesman Mr Yeo said the atmosphere at Westminster would be very different from that in Blackpool following Mr Duncan Smith's address.

Mr Duncan Smith's supporters continued to rally round, with party chairman Theresa May declaring he would lead the party into the next election.

Ladbrokes lengthened the odds on his survival from 1-4 to 2-5.