He plans a frantic fringe, talking on Tuesday about Winning the Election, the day after at a News International-sponsored event on Globalisation, and speaking to a Yorkshire Conservative Political Centre breakfast on Thursday on a Europe of Nations.In between times, he has a full diary of meals with influential media folk, when he is not kinnocking from one television studio to another. Much the same is said of Gillian Shephard, the Education Secretary.The Vulcan himself, John Redwood, will not get to the conference rostrum, of course, because he did have the nerve to challenge Major last summer. Furthermore, though they plan a robust defence of their record, the rival claims of Stephen Dorrell at Health and Malcolm Rifkind at the Foreign Office - "wets pretending to have dried out" - are not taken seriously. "Despite Herculean efforts, he has not been seen to deliver," is the verdict of one MP.Peter Lilley wins marks for his handling of the DSS, but "doesn't catch the imagination".

But they do not have votes, and though the parliamentary party - which has - will be more right-wing after the election, his ambitions do not score where it matters. He is one of the few Cabinet ministers who can make ordinary people laugh.Like Portillo, the Home Secretary Michael Howard has been stumping the constituencies for months, winning standing ovations from audiences sometimes amounting to hundreds. "I hope's he's learned something," mutters a confirmed Europhobe "But actually I think he's sunk. Partly because of his performance at Blackpool last year, and partly because he wasn't prepared to stand up and be counted [in the leadership election against John Major] - when Redwood was."Ian Lang, the President of the Board of Trade, is singled out as a good "dark horse" bet in the leadership stakes, should he retain his marginal Galloway seat. A middle-ranking figure on the right conceded: "Ken is what we need in terms of style: a thug, basically, with bluster and barnstorming skills.