Tories Told Don't Despair

Sir Norman said he is sorry to see the departure of John Major, who he described as a "successful Prime Minister who was never given the credit for his undoubted achievements".

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4's Today programme Sir Norman stressed that there is "no hurry" for leadership candidates to rush forward and that the party needed time to recover from their huge defeat.

"Opposition and the demands of opposition are very difficult. You need a tough leader - someone who can do successful battle in the House of Commons twice a week and someone who can develop policy at the same time" he said.

Sir Norman, who held onto his Sutton Coldfield seat in Thursday's general election, refused to give an indication of how he would vote in any leadership contest. He also partly blamed the divisions in the party for Thursday's dramatic defeat.

"One of the undoubted factors and the reason that we lost the general election was the fact that the party wasn't only reluctant to come together but refused to come together and that was one of the real reasons why we lost." he said.

The former Cabinet minister warned "If we are going to continue in that way then it really doesn't matter - we are not going to be successful as a party. We have to restore the traditional discipline in the party."