NORTH Yorkshire MPs Anne Mcintosh and John Greenway were today preparing to rally behind Iain Duncan Smith after backing the loser in the Tory leadership contest.

The MPs had backed Kenneth Clarke - who was beaten by more than 55,000 votes when the results of the gruelling contest were announced last night.

Mr Duncan Smith received 155,933 votes, or 61 per cent, with Mr Clarke getting the support of 100,864 members, or 39 per cent.

Vale of York MP Ms McIntosh said the victor would have her full support - but warned he had work to do to re-unite the Tories.

She said: "I am very pleased for Iain, but very disappointed for Ken."I think Ken had an excellent campaign and would have been best placed to handle the crisis in the US at the moment, because of his wealth of ministerial experience.

"The challenge for Iain now is to unify the party and heal up the divisions which he helped to create between 1992 and 1997.

"I will be there to help him and I hope he succeeds."

Mr Duncan Smith last night named key members of his Shadow cabinet.

York-born David Davis, who pulled out of the race to be leader in the first round, was named the new party chairman.

Ampleforth School-educated Michael Ancram is the new Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Ms McIntosh and Mr Greenway were today expected to discover if they were to get front-bench roles.

Reaction to the leadership announcement was muted in the wake of the atrocity in the US.

Updated: 08:41 Friday, September 14, 2001