IDS awaits his fate

Iain Duncan Smith is waiting to know his fate as Tory leader, after polling finished in a ballot of fellow MPs asked to deliver a vote of confidence in him.

The poll closed at 6.30pm, with the result due to be announced at precisely 6.59 tonight by chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee Sir Michael Spicer.

Earlier Mr Duncan Smith had made a passionate appeal to the MPs, crowded into Commons committee room 14, to end a decade of bitterness and division and endorse his leadership of the Conservative Party.

He told them there was no "white knight" who could come charging to the rescue and win the next general election.

In a 20-minute address to Tory backbenchers, Mr Duncan Smith admitted he had made mistakes - but said any new leader would have to go through the same learning curve.

He told the MPs: "We must end the bitterness that has tarnished our party, not just for two years but for the last 10 years."

But he promised that if he was defeated he would remain as a caretaker leader and would not carp from the sidelines at whoever was elected in his place.

Mr Duncan Smith added: "Two years ago, the voluntary party gave me a mandate to lead. Today I'm asking you to endorse that mandate.

"Over the last two years, the policies that we have developed have allowed us to unite. We have an opportunity today. The tide is turning against this Labour Government.

"We must be united and focused to take our opportunity. The last two years have been a steep learning curve for me and I have made mistakes, but it is not a question of whether I have made mistakes but whether I have learned from them."

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