Duncan Smith tells rebel MPs to focus on national security

Iain Duncan Smith called on Tory MPs in effect to fulfil their patriotic duty yesterday and drop any thoughts of challenging him during a war on Iraq.

The Conservative leader said he was "absolutely confident" he would remain in post and predicted he would win the next general election by focusing on government failures.

But as the Commons returned after a one-week break, Tory MPs preparing a challenge were boosted by reassurances that their anonymity would be protected, if necessary in the courts.

The Tory leader, in Downing Street after talks with Tony Blair, brushed aside the controversy over his sackings of key modernisers at Conservative Central Office. Mr Duncan Smith said he would win the next election by focusing on taxation, asylum and law and order. He gave a strong warning that party supporters would not tolerate distractions in a military crisis.

"That is the clear message to everybody in my party. And I must tell you also the main prime concern right now for my party is that the safety and the well-being of the British people must come first at a time when we may be going into war. I am absolutely confident I will be taking my party through to the next general election and winning it."

The Conservative leader insisted he was "at one" with Theresa May, the party chairman, and with David Maclean, the Chief Whip, who earlier attacked Michael Portillo for a "selfish, destructive" outburst over the sacking of the party's modernising chief executive, Mark MacGregor.

The Tory leader's ebullient words contrasted with the fevered atmosphere at Westminster where his MPs were plotting the details of his removal. "It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," one backbencher said.

Even the most rebellious MPs accept that launching a leadership contest would not go down well with the grass roots during a war. But one claimed that a challenge could be started two weeks after British troops went to Iraq.

Mr Duncan Smith is coming under intense pressure to appear before the powerful backbench 1922 Committee at its weekly meeting tomorrow to explain recent staff changes.

Members of the executive of the 1922 have been told that Mr Duncan Smith, the Chief Whip and the party chairman will not have access to the 25 names needed to trigger a motion against the leader. The committee has received legal advice that if the leadership wanted to check the veracity of the names, they would be shown only to a judge in chambers.

The 1922 Committee's robust defence on their anonymity could encourage more backbenchers to write to Sir Michael Spicer, its chairman, to call for a motion of no confidence.

Mr Duncan Smith's allies rallied round yesterday, with Peter Lilley and Angela Browning joining Mr Maclean in calling for Michael Portillo and his supporters to stop criticising the leadership. Angela Browning, a vice-chairman of the party, said Mr Portillo was part of a "very small clique".