Theresa May will this week host a crisis meeting of the party's board to discuss Iain Duncan Smith's sacking of Mark Macgregor from the post of chief executive.

Members of the 17-strong board are furious that they were not consulted over the dismissal.

Briefing against May continued yesterday, with right-wingers claiming her time as chairman had not proved a success.

One source told today's Times: "The modernising agenda is dead. It has failed and it has been seen to fail. Now that these people have gone Iain can go back to doing what he should have done from the start, what he was elected by the party membership to do. He can be a proper Tory."

Theresa May is privately furious about the whispering campaign against her, reports today's FT.

John Redwood has emerged as a possible successor as Tory chairman, according to the Telegraph.

A shadow cabinet source said: "John Redwood is exactly what we need. Our supporters in the City and elsewhere want us to get stuck in to Tony Blair and he can do that. It's time the Tory party was more aggressive about what it believes in."

The Mirror claims members of the Carlton Club are running bets on how long IDS will last.