LONDON, Oct 14: British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s main opponent, already beset by rumours that his followers want to oust him, will face a probe into claims he misused state funds in the employment of his wife as his secretary.

Parliament’s Commissioner for Standards Sir Philip Mawer said on Tuesday Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith would be investigated after a journalist handed over a dossier of claims about his wife Betsy’s job.

“My only concern is the truth and that is what I am...trying to establish,” Mawer told reporters.

Duncan Smith was quick to respond, welcoming a probe that he said would exonerate him and end his enemies’ sniping.

“I’ve had to put up with weeks and weeks of drips and leaks from anonymous sources,” he told BBC Television. “These are cowards lurking in the shadows.”

Blair’s public ratings have tumbled over his unpopular decision to wage war in Iraq but the Conservatives have failed to capitalise.

If fighting off potential plotters within his party was not enough, Duncan Smith now faces an inquiry that could drag on for weeks and ruin his trump card — personal integrity.

“I’m not surprised. I don’t think the Commissioner had any option. I gave him quite a lot of strong evidence,” the journalist, Michael Crick, told Sky Television.

Duncan Smith had given Mawer a 40-page submission in an attempt to show he had no case to answer.

British legislators get public funding to employ researchers and secretarial help and it is not unusual for the work to be undertaken by family members or friends. The point at issue is whether Betsy did much work for her salary.

Widely seen as lacking the charisma to mount an effective challenge to Blair, Duncan Smith won a stay of execution with an aggressive speech to his party last week.

But the latest allegations could galvanise senior Conservatives who want rid of him well before the next election, expected in 2005.

Unbowed, Duncan Smith had an angry warning for his detractors, accusing them of using his wife to get at him.

“You have picked the wrong fight. I am the man who will stand here and take you on,” he said. “I am going to the next election as the leader of this party.”

The Conservative Party dominated 20th century British politics under iconic leaders such as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, but has struggled to find direction after suffering two crushing defeats at the hands of Blair since 1997.

On the eve of the party’s annual conference last week, a poll showed just 14 per cent of people thought the Conservatives could ever win an election with Duncan Smith as leader.—Reuters