MPs make first moves to depose Duncan Smith

Iain Duncan Smith's political future was in serious peril last night. Tory MPs will begin mounting a challenge to his leadership on Monday.

The move to collect the 25 signatures needed to force a vote of no confidence came as the former cabinet minister Michael Portillo publicly accused Mr Duncan Smith of narrowing the party's appeal and surrounding himself with "yes" men.

One MP said last night that the attack was so damaging for the leader that it cleared the way for a challenge. "I'm going to see how many signatures can be collected next week," he said. Another backbencher said: "He looks like damaged goods. It might take some time, but he's got to go."

Emboldened by Mr Portillo, MPs will begin collecting signatures on Monday.

The former defence secretary also said that Theresa May, the party's chairman, had been put in an "impossible" position by briefings against her and changes at Conservative Central Office. Mr Portillo said that the appointment of Barry Legg, a right-wing former MP, as party chief executive, had sent the wrong message to voters looking for a more modern Tory party.

Mrs May insisted she would not be ousted from her post but pointedly refused to say that Mr Legg would have been her personal choice. In a TV interview, she dismissed reports that she had considered resigning her post as a "complete and utter lie". She had known of the decision to install Mr Legg in place of Mark MacGregor, a moderniser, she said.

Mr MacGregor, an ally of Mr Portillo, was the architect of Mrs May's party conference speech that declared the need to steer away from "the nasty party" image of the Tories. His sacking was urged by Thatcherites who want to move the party back to its traditional low-tax, free-market agenda.

The infighting triggered by Mr MacGregor's removal became public when Mr Portillo launched apersonal attack on Mr Duncan Smith. Speaking to The World At One on BBC Radio 4, the defeated Tory leadership contender suggested for the first time that Mr Duncan Smith would not survive this Parliament.

Mr Portillo said Mrs May, and members of the party's ruling board, seemed to have been sidelined by the decision to appoint Mr Legg, a former Maastricht rebel.

"Her position appears to be impossible. She has been briefed against. Changes have been made to the party that she should have been consulted about, she wasn't consulted about them. It looks very bad," Mr Portillo said. Asked if it was "too late" for Mr Duncan Smith, Mr Portillo said: "I have no comment on that. He was going through a very good period."

In a scathing reference to Mr Legg, Mr Portillo added: "The advice that I would give to anybody is that you don't look tall if you surround yourself by short grasses ... What I see is a narrowing of the party and that I think is worrying."

On BBC News, Mrs May dismissed suggestions that Mr Duncan Smith was lining up the right-wing former Welsh secretary John Redwood as her replacement. "I am the chairman of the party and I am remaining the chairman of the party ... I was consulted about the staff changes. I played my full part in those decisions about the staff changes," she said, although she admitted that the past few days had been "a little turbulent".

Grassroots Conservatives have voiced concern about the infighting in a straw poll for The Independent. But, out of 35 constituency chairmen with sitting Tory MPs contacted, all but four said they backed Mr Duncan Smith.