...comes from former Conservative cabinet minister Gillian Shephard. Speaking about the current problems in Tory ranks, she said:

"I think people ought to get down to doing their jobs, to producing the policies, to doing the work to prepare for a good and successful election. And just sometimes there's a little bit too much time or, shall I say, spare energy for navel gazing. What is clear is that the public are very alert for any suggestions of splits - they don't like it, we learned that at the last election."