Duncan Smith: I will not run away from the snipers

Iain Duncan Smith insisted yesterday that he would not "run away" or be driven to resign by continued sniping about his ability but the spectre of a leadership challenge continued to haunt the Conservative Party.

In what will be a crunch week for the Tory leader as MPs return to the House of Commons, the party appeared to step back from an immediate challenge, saying that replacing him before the May local elections and on the brink of war in Iraq could be a "foolish move".

One senior Tory MP said: "He's definitely lost our confidence and he may not ever recover from that, but we are not likely to see him booted out just before the elections and while we are all talking about going to war. He's got a few more weeks before the chop is a serious proposition, I suspect."

Mr Duncan Smith was "now irreparably damaged", said one former frontbench MP. "He's damaged goods. He is not likely to recover from that. We will have to see what happens this week when MPs have a chance to talk to each other."

Mr Duncan Smith's office was forced on the defensive after another weekend of behind-the-scenes criticism. "He is the leader of the party and will continue to run the party. If they thought that Iain was going to run away from this they are wrong," his spokesman said . The powerful 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs meets on Wednesday and will discuss the turmoil. It is considering summoning the party chairman, Theresa May.

Tory MPs were speculating that Mr Duncan Smith might confront his critics head on and address dissenting back-benchers personally.

But although some MPs will be canvassing colleagues on the prospect of finding 25 signatories to issue a formal challenge to Mr Duncan Smith, it was not clear yesterday that Kenneth Clarke, the most serious challenger, was ready to launch a bid before May.

"It looks as though he is not ready to move," one Tory MP said. "His people are still weighing up the atmosphere and may not want an early contest. This week is crucial."

John Bercow, a moderniser who quit Mr Duncan Smith's front bench last year, accused the Tory leader of "fanning the flames" with his claims at the weekend that Michael Portillo is "self-indulgent to the brink of madness".

John Major, the Prime Minister from 1990-97, said voters were losing patience with the party's constant feuding. He told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost: "At this moment I think people are absolutely losing patience with the squabbles."

Francis Maude, who ran Mr Portillo's leadership election campaign in 2001 and is a key moderniser, said the sniping was damaging the whole party. "The Conservative Party needs to lie down in a darkened room for a period and gather itself together," he told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend.