Angry response reflects a 'seething discontent'

Iain Duncan Smith's declaration of war against alleged plotters backfired badly yesterday when a raft of frontbench and backbench MPs attacked the Tory leader.

They claimed Mr Duncan Smith had made a "grave misjudgement" in issuing his personal statement.

Nearly a quarter of the party disagreed with the leadership on gay and unmarried adoption, but even MPs who had followed the three-line whip were dismayed by their leader's decision to go on the offensive.

In a worrying echo of backbench irritation under John Major's leadership, some Tories said the discontent in the party was worse than it had been for years.

Francis Maude, one of eight MPs who defied the party whip, denied that those who voted against the leadership had co-ordinated their actions. "I had no idea who was going to be in the division lobbies," he said.

One MP said: "It's a pathetic farce. The seething discontent among the parliamentary party is the worst I have seen it in nearly 30 years of being an MP. I can tell you if we had the old system of choosing a leader, he'd be dead by now."

Another MP said Mr Duncan Smith's tactics on the adoption vote had persuaded many that he was "out of his depth". He said: "Up to now there have been doubts about the communication skills of Iain Duncan Smith. But following the last 48 hours, many colleagues are having serious doubts about his judgement."

"I think the time has come when the party must decide whether this agony is going to continue until the next election of not. This self-torture can't go on indefinitely."

A shadow minister said of Mr Duncan Smith's appeal for loyalty: "It was a five-star f***-up. We don't face a problem of unity. We face a problem of leadership." A Eurosceptic MP said: "Iain Duncan Smith seems to have a death-wish. But he's sown the seeds of his own destruction."

The former shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe admitted the Tories faced a battle for the "soul of the party". She said: "The problem is that for some years now ... we have got into the habit of arguing in public. We have got to unlearn that habit if we want to get back into government."

Even Mr Duncan Smith's strategy to use grassroots pressure to force his opponents to toe the line received a setback. Rod Reed, the chairman of the Beckenham Conservative Association in south-east London, said ordinary members were "pretty unlikely" to come to his aid.