After defeating the better known Kenneth Clarke in the leadership contest of 2001, Iain Duncan Smith became the Conservative partys eighth leader since Winston Churchill. In October 2003, however, after weeks of discontent, his Parliamentary Party called a vote of confidence in his leadership, which he lost by 75 votes to 90. He had risen to the top incredibly quickly, having been first elected in 1992 and, unlike his predecessor, having no experience of government. Indeed, he was notable in his first Parliament for his disloyalty, as he was one of the few new MPs to join in the Maastricht rebellions.

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