Lilley: others should make way

Lilley outlines the shape of a Tory party under his leadership

Lilley Aims To Beat Clarke

He predicted that he would finish in the top three places, ahead of both Michael Howard and John Redwood the two other acknowledged rightwingers in the race.

He said that if they stepped down, he would be able to pick up enough support to overtake the generally accepted frontrunner in the first ballot, former chancellor Kenneth Clarke, to win through in the later rounds.

He told the BBC's Breakfast with Frost  programme: "I think it is certainly the case that whoever comes fourth or fifth are going to find it very difficult to imagine that they could go on to win subsequently. I would therefore have thought they would stand down and I would appeal to a very large number of their supporters to come over to me."

"I am probably best placed because I am the candidate who comes broadly from the right of centre who has the confidence of the right but with an appeal across the whole spectrum of opinion in the party," he added.