IAIN Duncan-Smith was right to say that the Tories must now "unite or die".

However, there is a fatal flaw that ensures this unity is not possible.

The fatal flaw is that, much as Tory MPs try to say otherwise, there has been for many years a total divergence between the aspirations and attitudes of the Tory supporters and those who are appointed to lead them.

I have spoken to many committed local Conservatives who are good, commonsense people who believe in hard work and fair play.

They want a British Government to be strong on education, tough on crime, fair with farmers, sensible on race issues and not subservient to the European Union.

In contrast, many of their MPs and political leaders have abandoned traditional commonsense values in favour of "inclusiveness", "modernism" and "political correctness".

On the European issue, Tory supporters have been betrayed by Heath, Thatcher, Major and now IDS who sign away our independence and allow federal Europe to establish itself before our eyes by telling their MPs to "keep quiet" on the issue.

Unless the Tory rank-and-file can assert itself and purge the party of "the forces of liberalism" it will indeed die. Its supporters will then be faced with a choice of the nondescript, woolly policies of the Lib Dems or the UK Independence Party, whose leaders and supporters are united by a common sense manifesto covering all issues under the umbrella policy that Britain must once again govern itself.

CHRISTOPHER KINGSLEY,

Yarkhill,

Herefordshire.