Tebbit urges Tory sackings

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit today urged Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith to sack the "squabbling children" from the party headquarters.

Conservative chief executive Mark MacGregor and strategy director Dominic Cummings should go, the peer said.

His outspoken intervention comes after a spate of apparent in-fighting around the messy sacking of David Davis as party chairman.

So-called modernisers, determined to give the party a more inclusive image, are said to be set against traditionalists who want to stick to fighting Labour on taxation.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, Lord Tebbit warned "spotty youths, researchers, assistants and party apparatchiks" were undermining the leader.

A spokesman for Mr Duncan Smith insisted: "He has a good team working for him and is very happy with their performance."

However, Lord Tebbit indicated to the paper that he believed there was a serious threat.

"Iain Duncan Smith needs to clear the squabbling children out of Central Office," he wrote.

Asked specifically who should go the peer said: "He ought to sack guys like Mark MacGregor and Dominic Cummings."

Mr MacGregor, ex-leader of the Federation of Conservative students, which was shut down by Lord Tebbit during his time as party chairman, was singled out for particular criticism, the paper reports.

Mr Cummings has vehemently denied reports that he was behind in-fighting that led to the removal of Mr Davis last month.

Lord Tebbit's comments follow reports that disaffected activists who wanted to pursue a more socially liberal agenda were planning their own

breakaway "Start Again Party".

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