Thatcher 'appalled' by attacks on Tebbit

Baroness Thatcher has said she was "appalled" by Iain Duncan Smith's decision to turn his fire on Lord Tebbit after the former party chairman had criticised the drive to modernise the Conservative Party.

The former prime minister telephoned Lord Tebbit to express her support after Mr Duncan Smith came under pressure from modernisers to withdraw the whip from him. "She told him she was four square behind him," Lady Thatcher's office told The Independent yesterday.

Lord Tebbit led the attacks by traditionalists on the party chairman, Theresa May, for describing the Conservatives as "the nasty party" in her speech to the Tory conference on Monday.

Yesterday senior Tory peers said Mr Duncan Smith would face mass resignations if he moved against Lord Tebbit.

Lord Tebbit claimed that a shadowy group of MPs, Tory officials and journalists called The Movement was plotting to get him expelled.

In a letter to today's Daily Telegraph, Mrs May,says she is "extremely surprised" by reports that Lord Tebbit might be expelled, and insists that such a move has never been contemplated. "Lord Tebbit has given distinguished service to his country and the Conservative Party," she says.

Officials said the Tory leader's warning to the party's old guard to stop "living in the past" in his conference speech was "a blanket message" aimed at figures on left and right.