Grassroots demands an end to infighting

After the travails of the past five years, the Tatton Conservatives are starting to believe that all hope of political stability is lost. They know that it will take more than "a short personal statement", as Central Office was describing Ian Duncan Smith's speech yesterday.

At constituency headquarters in Knutsford, news of the "unite or die" speech was taking time to filter through but Anthony Dobell. the constituency chairman, said he was glad of any "good, strong leadership.

"I couldn't really follow why [the adoption debate] was a three-line whip," he admitted. "But we need a bit of a lead. All this leadership thing seems to have blown up from nowhere.

"We just want this business to end. We've got to get stuck into public services. The conference went quite well and things seemed brighter. How have we got so distracted with this adoption business?"

The unthinkable for Mr Dobell and others is yet another leadership contest. "You can't have one every five months," he said.

Statements of disloyalty are less abundant in Westminster, though there's no mistaking the figure on people's minds. "[Kenneth] Clarke is getting on a bit now," said Mr Dobell, in the same breath. "But he was certainly a bit of a bruiser and got stuck in a bit more."

No hint of such blasphemy from Stephen Gordon, a regional organiser. "I think [Mr Duncan Smith] came out with a very clear statement today," he said. "He is absolutely right when he says the party should be united. I think he is one of the strongest people we have."

They don't take too kindly to talking politics at gin time in the "Con Club" but Peter Frost was frustrated enough to break with etiquette. "The speech today makes sense – leadership needs to be asserted. But all of this is simple," he said. "It's a question of aesthetics. First there was a bald man with a Yorkshire accent who proved unelectable. Now we put another bald man in with no attraction. It's a job for Portillo and, whatever he says, he'll take it and install Clarke in a senior position."