Iain Duncan Smith's two years as leader of the Conservative Party have come to an end.

On Wednesday he described the previous six weeks as a "vision from hell". His career, which was so often under intense fire, came to a head with fatal consequences.

In a vote of no confidence, MPs who had never given him their wholehearted support brought his leadership to an end.

The Chingford MP was the surprise victor of the 2001 Conservative Party leadership contest.

Despite his victory, Duncan Smith was rocked by a series of crises which dealt him the fatal blows which eventually ended his career.

Whilst he managed to defeat Kenneth Clarke in the national poll, he mustered the support of just one in three of his MPs.

From the day of his leadership victory, questions were raised about Duncan Smith's ability to lead a party he did so much to undermine during the rebellions over the Maastricht Treaty.

The former soldier - who has also been an estate agent and defence analyst - joined the Conservative Party in 1981.

After unsuccessfully contesting the Bradford West seat in 1987, he was elected in 1992 to Chingford and Wood Green, the former constituency of Norman Tebbit.

It was Tebbit who later endorsed him for the party leadership - describing him as "a remarkably normal family man with children".

Duncan Smith's anti-Europe views, army career, war hero father and a wife from the landed gentry made him the ideal candidate for the party's grassroots.

Whilst many MPs had been unpersuaded of his merits as leader, Duncan Smith appeared to enjoy the continued support of the 300,000 Tory members.

The first Catholic leader of the Conservative Party, Duncan Smith has strong links to the Christian right.

And whilst he was rich in experiences outside Westminster, including a spell on the dole, he was the least experienced Tory leader since Bonar Law.

Without any ministerial experience he had served only 11 years as an MP - a de facto member of the opposition for most of them.

Critics claimed the self-styled "IDS" had little credibility when calling for loyalty after working tirelessly to oppose John Major's government.

Following his election, Duncan Smith had hoped to make up for his lack of political experience with a new determination to put his party back on the map.

But his first tactical mistake came in the summer of 2002 when he demoted party chairman and leadership rival David Davis, who was on holiday at the time.

It led to the crucial party conference in which Duncan Smith portrayed himself as "the quiet man".

Whilst his second speech was well received any gains were quickly wiped out as he struggled to make his mark at Westminster.

Imposing a three line whip over an obscure piece of gay rights legislation brought a small but high profile rebellion.

John Bercow, the Buckingham MP, resigned from the frontbench over the party's stance on gay adoption.

Eight Tory MPs voted against the party line while a further 35 abstained.

Many was forced to question whether the man in the top job had the judgement necessary to lead a united party to election victory.

That clash led Duncan Smith to hold a press conference during which he famously called on colleagues to "unite or die".

In December last year former deputy prime minister Lord Heseltine called on the Tories to replace the beleaguered leader with Kenneth Clarke.

Without a change in leadership the party would not have "a ghost of a chance of winning at the next election", the former deputy prime minister said.

Later that month, biographer Michael Crick exposed flaws in the CV of a man who had pledged to be spin-free.

"Normally, with any politician, there's a glut of people who'll reminisce and provide juicy anecdotes. But, in this case, people simply don't remember him," said Crick.

The report questioned Duncan Smith's claims to have studied at the University of Perugia in Italy and Dunchurch College of Management.

Doubts also emerged about the Tory leader's exact identity - with Crick mockingly suggesting name was actually plain George Smith.

Conservative Central Office rejected the speculation by claiming that "even the most dedicated political anorak will find it hard to get excited about where Iain Duncan Smith took his Italian classes 30 years ago".

But this was not the last time that Duncan Smith was to hear from Crick, a tenacious hack with a reputation for Tory bating.

Parliamentary standards commissioner Philip Mawer is now examining allegations surrounding the employment of his wife, Betsy, as diary secretary.

Whilst many thought the timing of the story pointed to a smear campaign others saw it as evidence of Duncan Smith's lack of political judgement.

Other reports suggested his private office was in perpetual chaos.

Privately many suggested IDS lacked the people skills to successfully manage a team.

Central Office has spent £500,000 in legal and associated costs in the regular purges of Tory aides.

Duncan Smith's supporters point to some notable successes during his time at the helm.

The summer policy overhaul won plaudits from activists, MPs and the media.

Efforts to modernise candidate selection resulted in more women candidates and a greater number of PPCs from ethnic minorities.

And he eased the party's stance on homosexuality sufficiently that Alan Duncan felt he was able to come out as the first openly gay member of the Conservative frontbench.

The subsequent selection of both Asian and gay candidates was welcomed as a sign that the party had changed under his stewardship.

And the Conservatives also clamped down on links with the right-wing Monday Club following a row over its views on race and immigration issues.

It was a symbolic move for the man who had been embarrassed during the 2001 leadership election when it emerged that Edgar Griffin, a vice president of his campaign, had links with the far right British National Party.

It was questions over the future, however, which finally sealed Duncan Smith's fate.

MPs have been asking themselves whether he is a man who could take on and beat Tony Blair at a general election.

That Duncan Smith is the younger of the two main parties leaders is a fact that, perhaps until the prime minister's recent heart scare, might have surprised voters looking for dynamic leadership.

There were also doubts over his ability to face down the challenge from Charles Kennedy's Liberal Democrats.

The former soldier - who served in Zimbabwe and spent time in Northern Ireland - fought to the bitter end.

But his MPs decided that an alternative leader with better combat skills is needed to take the party to the general election.

After the battering he has taken from both the media and his own parliamentary party, the chance to spend some more time with his family might come as something of a relief for the "quiet man".