EAST Lancashire's lone Tory MP, Nigel Evans, today backed moves to allow party rank and file to have a say in who leads the Conservatives in opposition.

Last night Tory chairman, Brian Mawhinney, called for constituency chairmen and chairwomen to be given a vote in next month's poll.

Instead of the party's 164 MPs having the total say, he wanted senior constituency officials to make up 15 per cent of an electoral college, with the MPs providing the rest.

This is particularly important in Scotland and Wales where there are no Tory MPs, and in the North West and North East of England, where there are just a handful.

Ribble Valley MP Mr Evans said he was in favour of the move provided it did not delay the leadership election.

He said he hoped the new system could be in place for an early contest but could not support it if it put back the date of the vote.

And he said that in the longer term he was in favour of a move to the Labour system of one member one vote for the party leader.

It is believed that widening the franchise to senior party figures outside Parliament would boost the chances of 36-year-old former Welsh Secretary William Hague, on whose campaign team Mr Evans is working. The MP was Mr Hague's Parliamentary Private Secretary.

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