Mellor leaves Tory party

Mr Mellor savaged Mr Duncan Smith's leadership

Former Conservative minister David Mellor has announced he has left the Tory party because he is disillusioned with its current leader, Iain Duncan Smith.

Mr Mellor was a member of the Conservatives for more than 20 years and served under Lady Thatcher and John Major.

He revealed on BBC's Breakfast with Frost that he had not renewed his membership

On the same programme the party's former leader, William Hague, ruled out a return to frontline politics.

But he was described by Mr Mellor as an "exceptional" leader, who should not have stepped down and paved the way for a "sub-Blair creature" such as Mr Duncan Smith.

The decision of the Tories to select Iain Duncan Smith was a sign that they are becoming a small group talking to themselves

David Mellor

Mr Mellor told Breakfast with Frost: "Iain Duncan Smith is devoid of any real personal distinction whatsoever and that is obvious to the public.

"I have not ever met a single person who has been really prepared to say to me that Iain Duncan Smith has got the calibre to be prime minister except those who have to say so because they are playing for the team."

Tory Crispin Blunt, who recently stepped down as a trade and industry spokesman in order to push for a leadership election, also named Mr Hague as a potential prime minister.

But the compliments failed to persuade Mr Hague.

He said: "I have done that and I have had that experience. It didn't work out exactly as it was intended to, much as I enjoyed it.

I think ex-leaders should be supportive but should not be kicking around at meetings

William Hague

"I am not looking to do it again or to come back into the front line of politics in any form in the next few years, so the answer is a categoric no."

He added: "I no more sit there thinking that I want to be leader of the Conservative Party again than I think about being the next person to fly to the moon."

The MP for Richmond, in Yorkshire, also disagreed with Mr Mellor's assessment of his successor, saying he was "doing the right things" and had recorded encouraging results in the recent local elections.

Mr Hague defended his decision not to attend the Tories' two-day gathering at Chesham in Buckinghamshire, saying he would only "get in the way".