Bill's Comment Page

For Iain Duncan Smith, is this week 'crunch time'?

This week may mark Iain Duncan Smith's final days as leader of the Conservative Party , even though only two MPs have so far openly admitted to having written letters calling for a vote of confidence in his leadership. If all the 'unattributed' briefings are true, though, this is probably the tip of the iceberg; what is probably holding them back is the fear of de-selection by their own constituency parties.

His appearance yesterday morning on 'Breakfast with Frost' on BBC1 showed him, outwardly, to be confident that he will still lead the Conservative Party at the time of the next general election. To me, though, his demeanor indicated that he is in fact behaving like a hunted animal, as do many of the outbursts from him over the past couple of weeks (his references to weapons, and who he might point them at).

A word of caution though. An ego as large as his seems to be could very easily collapse suddenly when he has to face the truth - the Party he leads, and wants to continue to lead, no longer wants him. The Parliamentary Party, of course, never did. Iain Duncan Smith only became leader because of the system introduced by his immediate predecessor, William Hague, which allowed the whole Party membership to vote between the two candidates remaining after the Parliamentary Party had eliminated the others in a series of ballots. This method seemed good and 'democratic' at the time, but what it has in fact achieved is to lumber the Party with a man whom the bulk of the British population (in my opinion) are never likely to view as credible prime ministerial material - not unless they completely take leave of their senses, that is (again, my 'objectivity' here may be open to question, although not much I venture). The main reason for this having happened is the unrepresentative nature of the Party membership when contrasted with the British population as a whole, in terms of age and socio-economic level, for example.

If Mr Duncan Smith is ousted in the near future, the last thing we need is another David Kelly (the weapons expert who probably committed suicide recently) on our hands, though. I do not wish to be melodramatic, but I hope that commentary about this whole matter in coming days can remain within the bounds of normal public discourse and not descend into unseemly sensationalism. I will try to do my best, for my part, to follow this advice. I have never made any secret of my desire to be rid of Iain Duncan Smith as leader, indeed I resigned from the Party immediately after his election to the post.