May: Praise for IDs

Senior Conservative MPs have rallied round their leader following his keynote address to the party conference.

Iain Duncan Smith's address won a series of standing ovations from the party faithful listening in Blackpool's Wintergardens conference centre.

And key members of the Shadow Cabinet insisted it would be enough to end rumours of leadership challenge when MPs return to Westminster next week.

Shadow chancellor Michael Howard told ePolitix.com it was an "excellent speech, absolutely first rate".

And he predicted that it had "set us on course for winning the next election".

Bernard Jenkin, the shadow defence secretary, said the address proved Duncan Smith was "a very strong man".

"This speech not only exposed the failings of the Labour Party and the prime minister in particular, it set out a very clear programme for government," he said.

"There will be more policies, but there are some very fundamental policies in place that show what we're really about caring for the least fortunate as well as for the nation as a whole."

Damian Green, the shadow education secretary, also said it had been a "fantastic speech".

"It was really well delivered, it had humour, it had passion, it was heartfelt, and even more importantly the content was exactly right," he told this website.

"Half of it was channelling the country's anger at the government's failure on public services and higher taxes, and the other half was setting out our alternative policies on which we'll be campaigning over the next 18 months."

Party chairman Theresa May said the speech revealed the leader's "passion and conviction".

"What I think people will have seen today is Iain Duncan Smith coming out fighting against the government and setting out absolutely clearly what the task is that we have to do as a Conservative Party," she said.

"What people have particularly seen today is the passion and conviction that lies behind what Iain is doing."

While Duncan Smith has faced a week of speculation over his leadership, his speech made it clear that he would be not stepping aside.

And shadow trade minister Henry Bellingham said the speech "was able to bring out the best of IDS's qualities".

"He's never going to be the world's greatest orator, but he is able to communicate with people and... I think he was able to get the message across very clearly."

Andrew Selous, the MP for South West Bedfordshire, also praised the speech as "fantastic".

"I think he put some more passion and commitment into the policies that we've outlined this week," Selous told this website.

And he suggested that there would not be enough backing among MPs for any move to mount a leadership challenge.

"When Crispin Blunt put his head above the parapet [to call for a new leader], not one other MP publicly followed him," he said.

"I don't sense that things will be any different this time and I think he [Duncan Smith] has demonstrated the passion and the range of policies for the party to be united, and you only have to see the reaction in the hall.

"We've now got to take that out right across the country and keep demonstrating it in the media, and I'm confident that we're going to."

James Gray, shadow environment minister, said the media had warned Duncan Smith he needed to deliver a great speech, and that was what he had done.

"That was a brilliant speech, the best party conference leader's speech I've ever heard," said the North Wiltshire MP.

"He's done it, he's sorted it and we're on our way."

Crucially, the speech got a warm response from party activists.

"It was a very good speech and pretty well balanced. He brought it all together very well," said Bedfordshire councillor Peter Hollick.

"I hope he did enough to dispel a lot of the plot theories that have been around. The reaction from the floor was very strong."

Duncan Smith's rivals outside the Conservative Party were quick to deliver criticism.

Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy claimed the speech would fail to resonate with the wider public.

"This was an inward address to a party which has turned its back on the country and is turning in on itself," he said.

"Iain Duncan Smith and his party offer no positive solutions for the future. Instead they play on fears rooted in the past."

But while there was a concerted attempt to rally around the party leader following his speech, it remains to be seen whether the attempt at unity will survive the feverish atmosphere that is likely to return when MPs make their way back to the Westminster village.

The Blackpool conference saw the party unveil what Duncan Smith described as "the most radical policy agenda of any party aspiring to government since 1979".

But for much of the media - friendly and non-friendly newspapers alike - the only story was one that centred on discontent with the party leader.

Duncan Smith's hard-hitting speech left no doubt that he was prepared to fight to keep his job.

The next few weeks will reveal if all the talk of plots has been nothing more than media speculation fuelled by anonymous sources unwilling to put their heads above the parapet.

If that is the case, Duncan Smith will still face an uphill battle to the next general election.

And if there is an attempt to oust him as party leader, the Conservatives will be plunged into another damaging bout of feuding just when Labour is looking more vulnerable than it has at any time under Tony Blair.