Duncan Smith survives latest test of leadership

Iain Duncan Smith was praised by pundits and backbenchers yesterday for a robust performance in the Commons, where he accused Tony Blair of offering "more of the same" on public services.

In an important test of his leadership after a turbulent fortnight, Mr Duncan Smith came out fighting, criticising the Government for failing to tackle crime, drugs, housing, health and education.

Responding to Government proposals, he said: "This Queen's Speech offers more of the same failed policies as before. More edicts. More targets. More indicators. More centralisation. More spin and more control."

One backbench critic said Mr Duncan Smith's speech had done enough to satisfy doubters in the parliamentary party, admitting: "There are no glum faces."

Another Tory MP said: "It was better than adequate, it was rather good."

Mr Blair dismissed the broadside and repeated his theme that the Conservatives persistently took the wrong path on policy.

"Where they should be moderate they are extreme, where they should be tough they are soft," the Prime Minister told his backbenchers.

"The choices could not be more stark, the choices on crime, where the Conservatives have got themselves into a position where they are opposing the measures we are taking on crime and anti-social behaviour."

Mr Duncan Smith was cheered by his MPs as he declared that the Government had failed to take action over unruly pupils, the right to buy council homes, regulation in care homes and choice for parents, patients and teachers.

He told Mr Blair: "It could have offered genuine hope to the millions of people who work in, and rely on, our public services. It did none of these things. Instead this Queen's Speech is just more of the same. Each year they promise real reform and each year they fail to deliver."

Mr Duncan Smith mocked Labour's work to reduce crime, warning: "Five years after the Prime Minister said he'd be tough on crime, a crime is committed here every five seconds.

"The number of crimes solved has fallen by 18 per cent in the last five years. Street crime has risen by almost a third in the last year and after five wasted years and 12 criminal justice Acts, the Queen's Speech yet again promises action on crime."

He also attacked proposals for local government reform, accusing John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, of attempting to "rip up the map of Britain".

He said Britain was facing "gridlock" and attacked the Government for failing to introduce comprehensive transport reform.

Mr Duncan Smith criticised ministers on university reform, accusing them of imposing top-up fees on "hard working families."

He also turned his fire on the NHS, warning that "five years after the Prime Minister said that there were 24 hours to save the NHS, the health service has more administrators than beds".

The Prime Minister said the Tories dismissed investment and reform in the public services because they did not want the NHS or state education system to succeed.

"They have to say that the National Health Service has failed because they don't want the NHS to succeed. They have to say that our school system cannot get better because they do not believe that improving our school system is a priority for the Government."

He accused the Tories of having "no coherent policy for the economy whatsoever".

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said the Queen's Speech laid bare the real fault lines in British politics, dividing the parties between the liberal and illiberal.

He accused Mr Duncan Smith of failing to run an effective opposition. He said: "On the situation with Iraq he has positioned himself – it's not even a question of so close to the British Government – it's so close to the American administration that he does not have valid questions to ask," he said. "It says it all that the 'quiet man' approach increasingly, on the domestic agenda as well as the international agenda, is becoming the silent man approach."

Earlier, Oona King, Labour MP for Bethnal and Bow, broke the tradition of light-hearted speeches to open the debate on the Queen's Speech, telling MPs the issue of race haunted her "like a stalker".

In a powerful speech to second the loyal reply to the Queen's Speech, she warned: "If you subject people to racist abuse, if they are average like me they will either go mad or they will try to get even.

"Frankly I am sick to death of race. The thing is, when you're black it kind of follows you. A bit like a stalker. You can't quite get away from it."

She added: "If there is any chance of a representative democracy any time soon, I would be really grateful."