Hague: Frontrunner

The BBC's Political Correspondent, Nick Jones, looks at race for the leadership. Dur: 2'35"

Decision Day for Tories

Conservative MPs are voting in the second round of the leadership contest to choose the man who will lead the party into the next millennium.

William Hague, the former Welsh Secretary, is the favourite to beat off the former Chancellor Ken Clarke and the right-wing ex-Cabinet minister John Redwood.

The winner needs a majority among all MPs entitled to vote for the matter to be settled.

Indications are that there will be no clear winner after the second-round ballot of the leadership contest.

If that is the case, the two with the most votes will go through to a third ballot which will take place on Thursday.

The former Chancellor once again topped a poll of Tory grassroots nationwide. But Mr Hague made significant inroads into Mr Clarke's support amongst the party's grassroots.

Yesterday, all three candidates addressed a meeting of Tory MPs in an attempt to pick up last-minute wavering voters.

The leadership contest has grown increasingly bitter, opening up divisions between pro-Europeans represented by Mr Clarke and Euro-sceptics such as Mr Redwood and Mr Hague.

The divisions were laid bare when a Clarke supporter, Ian Taylor, a former junior minister, savaged Mr Hague.

The former Welsh Secretary had signalled that any member of his shadow cabinet would have to sign a piece of paper opposing a single currency, effectively excluding Mr Clarke, said Mr Taylor.

"William Hague's performance was chilling," said Mr Taylor. "I've never been so angry."

Clarke: Optimistic

Kenneth Clarke stresses unity in a Today interview Dur: 5'18"

Senior Tory figures have also warned of the danger of the party disintegrating and there has been speculation that an SDP-style group of disaffected pro-Europeans may break away from the party.

Mr Hague has been accused of shifting his position on the single currency to pick up votes from Euro-sceptics.

He had an unexpected boost when right-wing Euro-sceptic candidates Michael Howard and Peter Lilley pledged their support to him instead of to Mr Redwood when they dropped out of the race after the first ballot.

Mr Hague's campaign received a further boost yesterday when the former Education Secretary Gillian Shephard declared she would vote for him.

The announcement by Mrs Shephard - who had been one of Peter Lilley's most prominent backers - ended speculation that she had dismissed Mr Hague as too young for the job, and intended to back Mr Clarke.

Mrs Shephard's decision could influence the estimated 20 Tory MPs who have still not decided who to support in the second ballot.

But Mr Clarke, who has the backing of Michael Heseltine, yesterday won the endorsement of another former Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Howe.

Hours before voting started, Mr Clarke argued he believed he could win, insisting that the votes of the previous supporters of Michael Howard and Peter Lilley would disperse three ways.

"If Jonn Redwood drops out today, it's too close to call whether I would get more of John Redwood's votes or William Hague would get more of John Redwood's votes," Mr Clarke told the Today programme.

Unity would "take some achieving" and require considerable skill, experience and a certain amount of diplomacy, continued Mr Clarke.

Redwood: trailing in contest

John Redwood tells the BBC's Today programme Tories should stick to common line on Europe Dur: 2'56"

The Conservative peer said that to elect Mr Hague or Mr Redwood as leader of the party would be to "repeat the mistake of the Labour Party in the 1980s".

Redwood Aims for Broadly-based Cabinet

In response to criticism that he would divide the party, Mr Redwood has maintained that his shadow cabinet would be "broadly based."

"It must be a broadly-based shadow cabinet. I would like Ken to join me in that shadow cabinet," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"But it will also be a shadow cabinet with collective responsibility and collective discipline and I's sure Ken would say the same," added Mr Redwood.

"Ken and everyone would stick to the agreed collective line. People in the Cabinet and shadow cabinet regularly have to stick to the common line even if they have argued against it in the privacy of the Cabinet or shadow cabinet room. There is nothing new in that," insisted Mr Redwood.