Take up golf, peer told, as Clarke backer stands by Duncan Smith

Michael Heseltine found himself isolated yesterday when he called on Tory MPs to unseat Iain Duncan Smith in favour of Kenneth Clarke.

As members of the shadow cabinet rallied to the Tory leader, a Clarke ally rounded on the former deputy prime minister for making his intervention.

Andrew Tyrie, MP for Chichester, ran Mr Clarke's leadership campaign last year. Yesterday he said: "Michael Heseltine's intervention is bad for the party and for the country.

"Britain is extremely badly run at the moment ... because of problems at the heart of No 10.

"The country is aching for an opposition to point this out, and Iain Duncan Smith has made a good start. He has only been in the job for 15 months."

Mr Tyrie spoke out after Lord Heseltine had called on Tory MPs to disregard the party's rules and install Mr Clarke as leader without holding a vote of the party membership.

A dream ticket, with Michael Portillo as deputy leader, should be formed, Lord Heseltine declared in yesterday's Independent, because Mr Duncan Smith did not have a "ghost of a chance" of winning the next election.

He was voicing parts of a scenario dreamt about by Clarkeites in their more optimistic moments.

Clarkeite sources - excluding Mr Tyrie, who refuses to comment on the former chancellor - have indicated that Mr Clarke would be interested in assuming the Tory leadership by acclamation.

Should Mr Duncan Smith fall, Mr Clarke would hope to pre-empt any need for a full contest involving the Tory grassroots, by winning the overwhelming support of MPs.

Mr Clarke's supporters expressed irritation at Lord Heseltine for his suggestion, because the former is making a point of not plotting against Mr Duncan Smith.

The Tory leader himself dismissed Lord Heseltine's intervention as "irrelevant".

Mr Tyrie said: "The idea of the parliamentary party seeking to overrule the wishes of the grassroots, so soon after changes in the leadership rules [by William Hague], would be a recipe for chaos."

Mr Clarke himself laughed off Lord Heseltine's remarks, saying: "That's just Michael."

Other Tories were less measured in their criticism.

Lord Tebbit, the former Tory chairman, denounced his former cabinet colleague as "a serial Conservative assassin".

Underlining the anger of the Tory right for Lord Heseltine's role in overthrowing Lady Thatcher in 1990, Lord Tebbit said: "It cannot be a coincidence that, just as the Blairs are floundering in a sea of sleaze, lies, and incompetence, Michael Heseltine comes to their rescue with an attack on the Conservative leadership.

"He did it to William Hague. Indeed, he did it to Margaret Thatcher.

"I suspect he would do it to any leader except Michael Heseltine. He is a serial Conservative assassin."

Leading members of the shadow cabinet also brushed aside Lord Heseltine's intervention.

Oliver Letwin, the shadow home secretary, said: "I don't think it's a good idea. We've heard this kind of thing before."

Theresa May, the Tory chairwoman, told Lord Heseltine to retire from the front line: "I think he should take up golf, like every other retired person."

These dismissive reactions show how Lord Heseltine is an increasingly marginal figure as he concentrates on his business career.

Tory MPs across the party believe it wildly unrealistic to assume that Mr Clarke could walk into the leadership.

Michael Howard, the shadow chancellor, is increasingly seen as a credible figure who could win strong support at Westminster.

Should he nevertheless be beaten by Mr Clarke in the MPs' poll, Mr Howard would have little difficulty in defeating his old Cambridge sparring partner in a vote of grassroots Tories.

Lord Heseltine's timing was also seen as poor.

While Tory MPs of all hues see Mr Duncan Smith as someone who is struggling, they believe that he put a stop to the whisperings, for the moment at least, with his "unite or die" warning last month to the party.