Frontbech colleagues of Sir Menzies Campbell sought yesterday to shore up their leader after party insiders called for the 66-year-old Fife MP to "go gracefully" and hand over the reins.
The defence of the Liberal Democrat leader came as bookmaker Ladbrokes put him as the clear favourite at 1/7 to be the first party chief to leave his post. David Cameron was placed at 6/1 and Gordon Brown 8/1.
"Young Turk" Nick Clegg was the 4/5 favourite to replace Sir Menzies while a rush of money over the weekend trimmed the odds of another possible contender, Chris Huhne, from 7/2 out to 3/1.
On Saturday, the party leader brushed aside the "idle chatter" that was undermining his leadership.
This followed apparent criticism from London MP Simon Hughes, the party president, who said Sir Menzies "obviously has to do better".
Another MP close to the leader was quoted as saying yesterday: "We want him to make the decision himself and to go gracefully rather than be hounded out.
"There is a lot of goodwill towards Ming, he has done a good job consolidating the party but he has now to hand over to the next generation and the sooner he does that the better. If he knows that it has got to happen sooner rather than later, the question is what is he waiting for?"
While the LibDems polled 23% of the vote at the last General Election, they have been trailing badly in recent polls with one showing them as low as 11%.
In face of all the flak, Ed Davey, Sir Menzies's chief of staff, yesterday defended his leader, insisting he was giving a "true lead" on key issues and pointed to a speech at the weekend.
In the speech, Sir Menzies told party members: "We will campaign on the issues that matter to people - climate change, council tax, tuition fees and free long-term care for the elderly, and Iraq."
"These are things that matter to people, not the idle chatter of the occasional dissident," he added, in a clear reference to Mr Hughes.
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