Michael Ancram has warned that Zimbabwe could be plunged into a fresh crisis once the death knell is sounded on Robert Mugabe's regime.

Amid growing signs that Mugabe's grip on power is slipping, the shadow foreign secretary said the alternative could be equally bad for the people of Zimbabwe.

Calling for a concerted effort to ensure elections in the country are "free and fair", Ancram warned that a culture of corruption and suppression is now endemic.

"My fear about Zimbabwe is that the end may be nigh for Mugabe - for reasons of nature as much as of politics - but that doesn't mean he won't be succeeded by someone as bad," he told ePolitix.com.

"There are a number of lieutenants who are every bit as bad as he is. Unless there is a deliberate international attempt to ensure that the elections that follow the departure of Mugabe are properly supervised and monitored you could get another rigged election and another Mugabe-style dictator coming in."

The removal of Mugabe will not automatically secure Zimbabwe a bright future, the shadow foreign secretary warned.

"He has created a corruption in that country where there are a large number of people who have a vested interest in keeping that corruption going because they are benefiting from it," said Ancram.

"Whether or not Mugabe is coming towards the end you still the need for an international effort to ensure that there are free and fair presidential elections, properly monitored from the moment of voter registration onwards to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe will not re-elect Mugabe or someone like Mugabe."

Challenging the prime minister to keep the diplomatic thumb screws on, he warned against moves towards low-key lobbying of the regime.

"The danger at the moment is that the world is turning it's back on Zimbabwe," Ancram told ePolitix.com.

"We have had the story that Blair has been persuaded that 'quiet diplomacy' is the way forward.

"Quiet diplomacy basically allowed Mugabe to get to where he is now, the ethnic cleansing, the death by starvation, the rape camps, the torture and murder of opposition members.

"We need to keep reminding the world that all of these things are happening in Zimbabwe."