They think Mr Howard wants to give David Cameron, the 38-year-old shadow Education Secretary, time to make a pitch for the leadership.The Davis camp issued a veiled threat to trigger an immediate leadership election by gathering the signatures of 30 Tory MPs – 15 per cent of the parliamentary party. Derek Conway, an ally of Mr Davis, said: “I think Michael and those around him have to understand that waiting for December for this to be resolved is going to make many people very unhappy and unsettled.” Asked if MPs were considering forcing an early election, he replied: “Undoubtedly there are groups of MPs about the place talking about it.”At a meeting of Tory MPs at Westminster last night, several MPs urged Mr Howard to shelve his plans to shake up the party’s organisation, saying this should be done under his successor, who could then be elected more quickly.A member of Mr Howard’s shadow cabinet said: “We cannot go on like this, contemplating our own navels for seven months. He will be following the British and Irish Lions rugby team in New Zealand.. Michael Howard has been warned that he could be unceremoniously sacked as Tory leader unless he abandons his plan to stay on in his post until December.

Beckham’s support restores the star appeal of the London delegation after it emerged that Prince William would not attend, as previously thought. However, President Jacques Chirac of France may be able to present to the IOC and still arrive in time for the G8 summit because Paris is scheduled to appear first among the bid cities.London’s delegation in Singapore was further enhanced yesterday with confirmation that the England football captain, David Beckham, will attend the vote. And I think the British public is enthusiastic about the prospect of hosting the Olympic Games in London.”London 2012 played down Mr Blair’s absence on the day of the vote, saying he could be used effectively the day before. We will continue to push this as much as we possibly can.”I think the whole country’s behind it, I know that all the political parties are. He added: “We will give the bid every support, we’ve already been doing that. He and his wife met many of them during the Athens Olympics and on Tuesday the couple renewed acquaintances with the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, at a reception in the Houses of Parliament to celebrate 100 years of the British Olympic Association.Mr Blair said in the Commons yesterday that London had the “best technical bid” of the five candidates. He will be in the air when the result of the vote is announced.

But on the day before the vote Mr Blair will be pressed into action in a frantic round of lobbying the 118 voting IOC members in the most open vote in recent memory. With rival teams from Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow eager to impress, IOC voters may seek refuge in their rooms at the famous Raffles Hotel, leaving only one social function for lobbying.Mr Blair is no stranger to IOC members. It simply cannot be right that millions of pounds can achieve more than millions of votes, as is sometimes the case at the moment.”. London’s Olympic bid was boosted when the Prime Minister confirmed that he would be in Singapore during the build-up to the vote to decide the host city for the 2012 Games. They argued reform was “long overdue”.They argued that “the only way to prevent large donations buying influence, or appearing to buy influence, was to prevent those large donations. Martin Salter, Labour’s deputy chairman of campaigns, said: “The Liberal Democrats have always been long on rhetoric and short on principle and, faced with a grotesque pile of money, they have conveniently forgotten their previous objections to large political donations.”When the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Bill was going through Parliament five years ago, the Liberal Democrats said there was a public perception of too much “big money” in British politics.