Mr Iain Duncan Smith faced renewed controversy yesterday over his views on Section 28 legislation and alleged racism within the Conservative Party as the leadership campaign entered its final week.
The shadow home secretary, Ms Ann Widdecombe, who is supporting Mr Kenneth Clarke, called on Mr Duncan Smith to issue "urgent clarification" of his position on Section 28, which prohibits local authorities promoting homosexuality, after he said it sent a negative message to the gay community.
At the start of the leadership campaign, Mr Duncan Smith said he agreed with the party's support of Section 28 and denied it was homophobic.
But in an apparent softening of his position in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he said the legislation was a "totem" and sent a negative message to gay people, which was a problem the Conservatives had to resolve.
In an interview with BBC's Breakfast with Frost programme, Mr Duncan Smith said: "I recognise that there are totems to this and you need to find a way of making one group feel less stigmatised, but at the same time preserving what you think is best, which is that children do need to be protected from those in authority who may have another agenda. Of course we will look and see if there are ways we can do that."
But Ms Widdecombe insisted Mr Duncan Smith's comments, if correctly interpreted, contradicted his declared position at the beginning of the leadership campaign. "People who have already votes have done so on a false prospectus. Some people have told me that they voted for him precisely because of his views on this," Ms Widdecombe declared.
Mr Duncan Smith was also forced to repeat his assertion that he would not countenance racists or extremists in the party, after the Tory peer, Lord Taylor, accused him of denying the party had a racism problem.
The race issue resurfaced at the weekend when Mr Duncan Smith disagreed with the shadow cabinet office minister, Mr Andrew Lansley's assertion that racism was "endemic" in the party. Mr Duncan Smith's response prompted Lord Taylor to declare that he could not expect to gain the trust of ethnic minorities on race if he denied there was racism within the party.
But Mr Duncan Smith hit back, insisting he had fought against extremists. "They are loathsome people," he said.
Meanwhile, a Scottish millionaire who helps fund Tory general election campaigns, yesterday threatened to withdraw his support if Mr Kenneth Clarke was elected leader.