Lame duck or dead duck, that is the Conservative question

If Colin Craig does what now looks like the impossible and gets himself reinstated as Conservative Party leader, such is the animosity towards him that it would be a recipe for chaos. The party would - at best - be consigned to lame-duck status.

But without him as leader, the party is surely in dead-duck territory.

That is the conundrum facing the party's board. They want rid of Craig. But he is being very clever. He admits that some of his "interactions" with his former press secretary Rachel MacGregor were "inappropriate" - but refuses to explain how. In his next breath, he vigorously denies accusations of sexual harassment.

So what was going on between the pair? And was it serious enough to warrant his standing down as leader of a morals-based party?

The word "inappropriate" can cover a multitude of sins. Moreover, whatever happened, all is forgiven, as far as Craig's wife, Helen, is concerned. Craig admits he made a mistake. He has apologised to her.

You did not need to be Einstein to work out why she was present at Craig's press conference yesterday. It went beyond political theatre. It was political schmaltz - lashings of it.

It may have been tacky. But Craig was deliberately going over the heads of those on the party's board and punting the wider party membership will buy his story and rally behind him.

Craig clearly sees his standing down as leader as a temporary aberration. Yesterday's staged press conference was confirmation that he is playing hardball and will be ruthless if anyone gets between him and his reinstatement.

Those on the board who want him gone for good know his return will result in the Conservatives' Night of the Long Knives.

That is why one arch-critic of Craig is urging his fellow board members to go as far as expelling him from the party when they meet this Saturday. After Craig's willingness to confront - at least in part - the rumours, gossip and innuendo surrounding his relationship with MacGregor, expulsion risks looking heavy-handed and unfair.

The board could then find a new leader - it was a strategic gaffe not having someone waiting in the wings - and pretend to carry on as if everything is hunky-dory.

Which, of course, it will not be.

As founder, funder and leader, Craig has built a substantial public profile for himself while ensuring his party has not been marginalised as a bunch of Bible-bashing reactionaries.

Without Craig at the helm, the Conservative Party would suffer the same fate as the New Zealand Party in the 1980s. Bob Jones sought to wind up the party he had founded. But some members wanted to carry on.

Within months, that remnant had amalgamated with National, never to be seen again.