The Tory left and right were gathering force last night in a concerted attempt to kill off Mr Michael Portillo's leadership bid in today's second round ballot of Conservative MPs.
Amid games of bluff and counter-bluff which rendered the final outcome "too close to call", anxious supporters suggested Mr Portillo could find himself sensationally squeezed into third place behind Mr Iain Duncan Smith and Mr Kenneth Clarke.
Last Thursday's re-run first round ballot in the parliamentary primary left Mr Portillo (on 50) needing just six extra votes to be sure of his place on the final ballot of the Conservative party's estimated 300,000 members in September.
However Mr Duncan Smith was further confirmed as the new front-runner last night as he won the endorsement of Mr Michael Ancram, who was eliminated from the contest on Thursday. The favourite of the Thatcherite right had already won the backing of Mr David Davis who also quit the race on Thursday. Between them Mr Ancram and Mr Davis had 35 votes in the first round replay which saw Mr Portillo's campaign fail to gain momentum and his tally increase by just one vote.
With Euro-sceptics declaring for Mr Clarke, and Mr Ancram defying some predictions and declaring for Mr Duncan Smith, it is clear that neither of the two already-defeated candidates have the capacity to direct their 35 supporters en-bloc behind any of the three survivors. And even on last Thursday's pattern of transfer, Mr Portillo seemed well-placed to pick up the extra six votes required to cross the threshold into the final ballot.
However right-wingers had predicted MPs would return to their constituencies at the weekend to find mounting grassroots opposition to Mr Portillo's vision of a more socially "inclusive" and tolerant Tory party. Mr Portillo was left reeling yesterday after Lady Thatcher emphatically denied a Sunday Telegraph report that she was backing Mr Portillo - once her annointed - against Mr Duncan Smith. And the relentless hostility of sections of the Tory press left some nervous Portillistas last night wondering if their candidate's base 50-vote support was still secure.
However, there was some respite for Mr Portillo as Mr William Hague flatly contradicted the assertions of Ms Amanda Platell in her videodiary of the election campaign, and effectively acquitted Mr Portillo of charges of disloyalty. Mr Portillo also won the endorsement of two former party chairmen, Lord (Kenneth) Baker and Lord (Cecil) Parkinson.
The Prime Minister, Mr Blair, was given a bloody nose in the Commons last night as rebellious backbenchers rejected plans to sack two senior Labour critics from the chairmanships of influential select committees.
MPs voted by 301 votes to 232, to throw out the recommended composition of the foreign affairs select committee - which included the sacking of former chairman Donald Anderson. The Commons then voted 308 to 221, against the make up of the transport committee. MPs had been given a free vote but the outcome was still a humiliation for Mr Blair.