Clarke: Unpopular with the right of the party

Tory Right Try to Stop Clarke's Leadership Bid

The party goes into the first round of voting in a few hours with Mr Clarke, the sole centre-left candidate, the clear favourite to come out on top - but the former Chancellor is unlikely to secure enough votes for an outright victory.

The right-wing vote is expected to be split between William Hague from the centre-right and the three out-and-out right-wingers - Michael Howard, Peter Lilley and John Redwood.

There are reports at Westminster that "talks about talks" between the Howard, Lilley, and Redwood camps were to take place to decide on a single candidate from the right to challenge Mr Clarke in round two.

Michael Howard: Expects to come in the first three on Tuesday

Both Mr Howard and Mr Lilley have said publicly that if they finished ahead of the other two on the right, they would expect them to step down to give the leader a clear run in the later stages. The problem for Mr Howard and Mr Lilley would come if they both polled a respectable number of votes in the first round and their figures were fairly close. Neither candidate may then want to stand down, and the vote from the right could be split down the middle, leaving the way clear for Kenneth Clarke.

This would be bad news for many MPs on the right who believe that the only way to stop Mr Clarke is to unite behind a single candidate.

Such a move could jeopardise the challenge of William Hague, who is widely tipped to come second but who is distrusted by some right-wingers who see him as 'another John Major' - a centre-ground candidate who may, they feel, be unable to unite the party.

Mr Redwood strongly denied suggestions that he was trailing behind the Howard and Lilley and indicated that he had no intention of dropping out - whatever the outcome of the first round. The former Welsh Secretary announced to a news conference that he was the best placed to lead the party as he had not "gone down with the ship" i.e. he was not a member of the last Conservative Cabinet. He claimed that he was the only candidate who could win back the disaffected tories who deserted the party at the election: "Surely it is the one who did not go down with the ship who is best placed to launch and sail the new vessel," he said.

Kenneth Clarke has dismissed the threat of a right-wing "unity" candidate , saying that even if the three right-wingers lined up against him, not all their supporters would necessarily follow.

He warned that the leadership ballot would not end the internal party debate on Europe and made clear he rejected Mr Redwood's demand that anyone who served in a Shadow Cabinet led by him would have to accept that the Tories would never take Britain into a single currency.

Local Parties Have Their Say

Robin Hodgson, chairman of the National Union of Conservative Associations, said up to 900 people are to take part in a phone-poll among chairmen of local parties to see who is their preferred choice as leader. The former Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, has written to the chairman of the 1922 committee to ask that the results of the exercise are published before the first round of voting.

Mr Hodgson said: "It is an advisory ballot. I'm sure MPs will listen to what the volunteers have to say,".

However, he added: "We all understand, and the volunteers know no less than anybody else, that the essential prerequisite of our electoral recovery is unity and therefore we shall be rallying behind whoever is chosen."