They may have been in the same building but the two rivals for the Tory leadership kept well apart at a rally in Sussex last night.

Earlier in the day in a live radio interview, Kenneth Clarke had accused Iain Duncan Smith of being "a hanger and a flogger", which hardly boded well for the meeting at The Hawth theatre, Crawley.

Mr Clarke, who is said to be behind in the opinion polls, arrived at 6.45pm and spoke first to about 1,000 party members for 20 minutes before staging a 25-minute question-and-answer session.

Mr Duncan Smith arrived at 7.20pm but did not listen to Mr Clarke's speech.

Mr Clarke then courted the Press backstage while Mr Duncan Smith put forward the reasons why he should be the new Tory leader.

Organisers said the pair were not deliberately kept apart following a series of clashes but were simply running on different schedules.

Mr Duncan Smith declined to comment on Mr Clarke's outburst on the Radio 2 Jimmy Young programme.

Instead he said he wanted to talk about public health, public services and the "failure of the Government" to ensure that most cities and towns were relatively free of crime.

Mr Clarke felt he had won the support of the majority of the audience.

The Tory leadership contest started following William Hague's resignation after the party's General Election defeat.

Kenneth Clarke this morning addressed about 50 Conservative Party members at the White Hart Hotel in Lewes.

He dismissed the opinion poll claims, saying he was still ahead on "everything that matters".

Mr Clarke discussed topics including education, health and Europe.

Before leaving, he said: "Today's meeting went very well. People were keen, although I am sure they have voted already, and I am sure they would have voted for me even before today."