Tories braced for Davis fightback

Nervous senior Tories are braced for a fightback by David Davis this weekend after the sacked former chairman apparently went "incommunicado" for a second time.

Party officials said today they had no idea what Mr Davis was planning to do following his return from holiday in Florida.

Amid rumours that the chief victim of Iain Duncan Smith's reshuffle was contacting sympathisers by telephone, there were growing expectations that he would attack colleagues who briefed against him in an interview or statement.

One official said: "No-one seems to know what he is doing or if he will say anything. We just haven't heard from him since he flew back."

The anxiety at Central Office was that Mr Davis would criticise Mr Duncan Smith directly. His friends have already accused a senior official in the leader's office and several shadow cabinet modernisers of mounting a whispering campaign against him.

Earlier this week the Tory leader humiliated Mr Davis by saying his demotion to John Prescott's shadow would better suit his "weaknesses" as well as his strengths.