IoS survey backs Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith has received the backing of every single constituency chairman in the top Tory target seats contacted by The Independent on Sunday – a third of the total.

And many urged MPs at Westminster against further damaging the party by forcing a leadership contest or concentrating on infighting rather than campaigning for electoral success and public popularity.

Councillor Tom Balmain, the chairman of the Lancaster and Wyre Conservative Association, said: "My belief is that there is no appetite for a leadership contest. It's about time the troops in Westminster rallied round the leader that we have selected and elected, and got stuck in.

"They shouldn't forget that they are there to represent us, not their own little personal vendettas. The grassroots are getting a wee bit fed up with the shenanigans at the Westminster end of things."

His views were shared by a significant number of his colleagues. Frank Thacker from the Enfield North constituency said Mr Duncan Smith's leadership was representative of the party in his local area.

"A leadership contest would faction the party," he said. "I think they ought to stop doing that [criticising Mr Duncan Smith] and do a bit more work to recruit a few members. There are a lot of men in Parliament who don't have a lot to do." Mr Thacker suggested they came up to Enfield to help him distribute leaflets instead.

And John Dean, chairman of Welwyn Hatfield Conservatives, said: "We have backed him from the very beginning and we still do. I am strictly against anyone sniping against the leadership of the party."

Others called for any problems within the Tory ranks to be dealt with internally rather than allowing divisions to be played out in the press.

Many said the only talk they had heard of leadership contests was in the press. Local activists were not interested in a change of leadership and were, on the whole, satisfied with Mr Duncan Smith.Similar findings emerged from a survey of association chairmen by the Daily Telegraph, which found 90 per cent opposed to a leadership contest.

Meanwhile, the intrigue continued to grip Westminster, with Tories insisting the atmosphere "smells like 1990" when Margaret Thatcher's leadership came to an end.