Shropshire and Mid Wales Tory MPs play down talk of split in party

Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies said the former work and pensions secretary had "dropped a big rock in the water" by deciding to quit.

But Shropshire MPs Mark Pritchard and Daniel Kawczynski said talk of a crisis in the party was wide of the mark – despite calls from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for Chancellor George Osborne to also fall on his sword.

Mr Davies said: "I've always believed Iain Duncan Smith is a top man. He dropped a big rock in the water by resigning and I wonder where the ripples will reach."

Mr Pritchard said Mr Duncan Smith had "contributed hugely" to the government. But the Wrekin MP added: "His resignation was probably timed for maximum effect, which is disappointing. Stephen Crabbe will do an excellent job as his able replacement."

Shrewsbury MP Mr Kawczynski said: "It was for him a step too far. Welfare payments are growing at an extraordinary fast pace. It is the wonder of our democracy that if one minister feels there is something they cannot support, they have the opportunity to resign. I know the media like these internal splits between parties but it is very much part and parcel of the way things happen, whether that is in parliament or in a big multi-national corporations."

North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has already backed Mr Duncan Smith, who he says "fought battle after battle behind the scenes to ensure the reforms he believed in were not overwhelmed by the Treasury's demands for cuts".

He said: "He decided he was not winning enough of those battles to justify carrying on as secretary of state for work and pensions. He used his resignation letter to warn the Government it needed to get back to its early determination to ensure 'we are all in this together'.

"It is a timely warning. There have been four budget-type statements in the last year alone. Those have not been a model of strategic consistency. Some have moved us closer to getting rid of the deficit and some have taken the country further into debt."

Cabinet minister Greg Clark today issued a plea for Conservatives to "come together again".

The Communities Secretary said Mr Duncan Smith had been working "hand in hand" with Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne on the welfare changes.

"I don't think it should be civil war at all because actually Iain and the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have worked very successfully together over the years, for example, to get more people into work than ever before, to have fewer children in workless households," Mr Clark said.

"We need to come together again to continue that important work."

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has called for Mr Osborne's resignation.

Mr Corbyn said Mr Osborne should scrap cuts in corporation tax and capital gains tax announced in the Budget in order to fill a £4 billion gap left by the PIP climbdown.

And he said Mr Osborne should be "considering his position" following the unravelling of his Budget plans in the wake of a barrage of criticism from Tory MPs.

"His Budget simply doesn't add up and it unravelled within hours of him presenting it. This isn't the first time a George Osborne Budget has unravelled," he said. "It seems to me we need to look at the very heart of this Government, at its incompetence, at the way it puts forward proposals that simply don't add up and expects the most needy in our society to take the hit for them."