Why I want Iain ousted

IF IT was a gamble, it is looking like one that has paid off. The moment Tory central office confirmed yesterday that enough Conservative MPs - 25 - had written to Sir Michael Spicer, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, to trigger an automatic vote of no confidence in Iain Duncan Smith, the ailing leader's fate looked sealed.

And in that same moment, what had seemed a risky gamble on the part of Ryedale MP John Greenway suddenly looked a better bet.

If anyone has emerged from the intrigue and plotting which has surrounded the Tory leader's last few days with credit, it is Mr Greenway. Because not for him the backstairs plotting in smoky bars, or the knife plunged into his leader's back. He at least had the courage to strike from the front, and openly.

At the weekend, Mr Greenway called publicly for Mr Duncan Smith to voluntarily submit himself to a vote of confidence.

And when the embattled Tory leader chose not to do so and opted to fight on instead, Mr Greenway did the honourable thing. On Monday, he became one of only four Tory MPs with the courage to write to Sir Michael demanding such a vote.

Of course, it is still theoretically possible that the Tory leader could win tonight's vote but it's a long shot.

Mr Greenway himself was certainly in no mood to pull his punches after learning the vital 25 letters had been secured.

"My immediate reaction is that he (Mr Duncan Smith) should stand down now," he said, speaking by mobile phone from London. And assuming he doesn't? "I would very much hope that he will lose the vote because I think it is time for another leader."

In the world of Tory politics, where political allegiances are more often communicated by subtle shades of emphasis, and by what is not said rather than by what is, it is unusual to encounter such plain speaking.

Part of it is down to anger. The Ryedale MP makes it clear he is very displeased with his leader for forcing him to come out in the open and call for IDS's head.

"He should have called a vote himself," he said. "John Major did it. I think he (IDS) would have claimed the moral high ground if he had done that.

"If there is one thing I'm annoyed and angry about it is the fact that people such as me, the backbone of the Tory parliamentary party - I've been there 16 and a half years and always been loyal to whoever was the leader - have been forced into taking this step to deal with a problem that is not of our making."

But why is Mr Greenway so determined that IDS must go? After all, he backed the Tory leader a year ago, in the face of a damaging rebellion by backbench Tories over IDS's opposition to plans to allow unmarried and gay couples to adopt.

Because the bloodletting and backbiting and whispering and plotting must stop, he says. Because the Tory party has a duty to elect a leader that can take on Tony Blair and win.

"The country as a whole is crying out for an alternative to the Blair Government. But they are just not convinced that the Conservatives under IDS are that alternative.

"I sense that in my own constituency, many people feel their prosperity in the future, and their livelihood, virtually now depends on getting this Labour Government out of office and getting a Conservative government back in.

"But they are not convinced that Iain Duncan Smith is a potential prime minister. The country has seen through the Blair grin, the Blair smile. But there are a lot of people who are natural Conservatives who, at the moment, say I cannot vote for you."

It was his duty as a good Conservative, in other words, to cast the first stone - or one of the first stones. But isn't there a risk his own constituents in Ryedale will see what he did as an act of treachery and not forgive him for it?

"I don't think politicians can expect to win the respect of the voters if they operate in the shadows," said Mr Greenway. "I'm not doing it as an act of treachery, but as a positive statement that I'm one of the people who want to see another Tory Government but are not convinced that IDS is a potential prime minister."

Added to which, he admitted, at a constituency evening last Friday the constituents he spoke to were almost unanimously agreed that there was a need for change.

He actually asked one of his "key supporters" what he should do if 24 letters were mustered calling for a confidence vote, but the anti-Duncan Smith lobby was still one short. Should he write that 25th letter? "And they said, for goodness sake, write it." In the event, of course, he wasn't the 25th person to write the letter, but one of the first. But perhaps, given the careful way he had canvassed support in his constituency first, the risk he took wasn't so large after all.

Ironically, Mr Greenway agrees, under IDS the Conservatives have the best set of policies they have had for some time. "But you can have the best policies, and if you don't communicate them, you don't get into power and you cannot implement them.

"It is no good having an argument about philosophy, about different policies over Europe and how high taxation should be, unless you've got a realistic prospect that you're going to win an election and get back into office. That it is the duty of the Conservative Party, to kick this lot (New Labour) out of office. That is our first responsibility. Our overriding responsibility."

If not IDS to lead the Tories to victory, then who? That is the million dollar question for the Conservatives - and one on which, for the time being, Mr Greenway would not be drawn.

It would depend on who put themselves forward, he said - before suggesting that Michael Howard was "easily the best" of the present front bench. He also mentioned the names of Ken Clarke and Michael Portillo.

Would he consider putting his own name forward? There was an explosive laugh - one so immediate and pronounced that you couldn't help believing him. "Absolutely not! No way would I stand!" Why? "I don't want to do it, that's the simple answer. I don't think I'm cut out for it, and I don't want to do it."

I don't think he was protesting too much. Whether he was or not, one thing today looks fairly certain. Whoever is to be next Tory leader, it looks like adios IDS. And Mr Greenway has played as much of a part in that as anyone.

Updated: 10:16 Wednesday, October 29, 2003