Thatcher: Hurry up and find new leader

Margaret Thatcher has weighed into the Tory leadership crisis with a call to MPs to "get on with" choosing a successor to Michael Howard.

Baroness Thatcher used the Conservative Way Forward event at the Dorchester Hotel, which was held in her honour, to vent her frustration.

She did not speak but is understood to have presented written remarks which were read out, including the need to urgently get a replacement for Mr Howard.

Her remarks are sure to be seen as a boost for shadow home secretary David Davis, the front-runner who would benefit from a quicker election contest.

A string of "baffling" options for reform of Tory leadership rules faced being thrown out by MPs today amid rising anger at Mr Howard's handling of the party since the election.

But one source claimed that "99 per cent" of MPs wanted to reject all five schemes put forward by the party's ruling board. The present rules allow MPs to whittle down a list of candidates to two before the 300,000 party members have the final say in a ballot.