WE are at the end of a week in which the Conservatives promised to transform themselves into a credible alternative to Tony Blair's Government.

But there is no credibility in a party which promises to cut taxes, cut spending, yet improve public services and pensions.

And there is no credibility in a party which spends all week debating not whether its leader will be Prime Minister at the next General Election, but whether he will be party leader at the end of the month.

Iain Duncan Smith managed to salvage something with his speech yesterday. Twenty ovations in a 62-minute address followed by a ten-minute standing ovation at the end displayed the pleasure of the party faithful and perhaps headed off an imminent leadership challenge.

However, to become a credible alternative to Labour, Mr Duncan Smith's message had to reach the hearts and minds of a sceptical electorate to whom the Conservatives have lost their appeal.

He failed that challenge yesterday.

Cash hand-outs for parents sending their children to schools of their choice and help for patients seeking private health care will be hugely popular with diehard Conservative supporters; those who loyally stood by the party in 1997 and 2001.

But they are not burning issues with ordinary people, those who make up the vast majority of voters. They are not bothered about choice in the health service and in education. They want, and expect, their local school and their local hospital to be first rate.

In giving incentives to a minority of people to choose the best schools and the best hospitals, the Conservatives are condemning the majority to use the worst schools and the worst hospitals.

The Conservatives are stuck in a time warp. They have failed to move on from the policies and philosophy which won elections in 1979, 1983, 1987 and 1992, but which cost them dear in 1997 and 2001.

To become a credible alternative, the Conservatives must transform themselves into a modern political movement with a relevance to a modern society.

Some may kid themselves that the electoral troubles will be rectified by ditching Mr Duncan Smith. But the harsh reality is that their troubles lie not just with the leadership, but with the party itself.