Tory leadership: the 1922 Committee

Backbench election will get the ball rolling

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The long process of selecting a new Tory leader will begin in earnest today when nominations open for the chairmanship of the party's powerful backbench 1922 Committee.

Gillian Shephard, the former secretary of state for education, Sir Michael Spicer, the former housing minister, and John Butterfill, a veteran backbencher, will all contest the post of chief spokesman for the 166 Conservative MPs.

Given the attention that has centred on the battle for the bigger prize, the 1922 contest has been dubbed the "forgotten election" by some at Westminster. But every Tory MP is aware of the importance the chairmanship will assume in the coming months of uncertainty over the party leadership.

Once the 1922 chairman is elected next Wednesday night, he or she will begin the formal procedure for the leadership contest as returning officer, whittling down the field until two candidates have been selected by MPs for a ballot of the wider membership.

All three contenders have been canvassing for support for weeks and have hosted campaign drinks parties recently, Mr Butterfill and Sir Michael's taking place last week and Ms Shephard's last night.

Ms Shephard, who has received hundreds of letters from members urging her to stand for leader, said she would be "neutral" on policy and act only as a conduit between MPs and the leader. "What I hope would help in the job is the nature and length of my experience. Most people would agree that I do have the ability to bring people together and defuse difficult situations," she said.

Although Ms Shephard does not herself highlight that she would be the first woman to chair the 1922, her supporters point out that the party needs a female in a senior post. "It would be a nice declaration of our intent to change," one said.

Sir Michael, who like Ms Shephard has been both a minister and a deputy chairman of the party, said he wanted to return the 1922 to its role under Margaret Thatcher as the first test-bed of policy ideas. Conservative think-tanks were "fizzing" with ideas in the wake of the election defeat, and by giving MPs a greater role in policy formulation, a newly vibrant Parliamentary party could help translate them into practical proposals. "I think I have the combination of diplomacy and an element of steel that is needed for the post. Unfortunately for the media, I would be a chairman who conducts his affairs in private," he said.

Mr Butterfill, MP for Bournemouth West, has sent a letter to all MPs signed by Cecil Parkinson and Steven Norris to prove the breadth of his appeal. "I'm the candidate the others really fear," he said. "If they are up against me in the final round, they will lose. Although they have the odd supporter from the opposite end of the party, the other two are polarised on the left and the right. I'm the only one with a broad base of support."