A COALITION between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats is a possibility if there is a hung parliament after the next election, according to the Tory Party’s chairman.

Francis Maude said that the two parties already governed together in town halls throughout the country, adding that there would be no “great drama” about it.

Mr Maude, a Tory moderniser, is the first senior member of his party to leave the door open to a post-election alliance with the Liberal Democrats, some of whom have already raised the prospect of such a coalition. However, Charles Kennedy has said that such speculation could damage his party’s electoral chances.

Mr Maude said last night: “There’s no reason why that should be out of the question.

If you end up with a hung parliament, there is either a minority government, which is unwieldy, or a coalition. You deal with what the electorate gives you.

“You look round the country and you see a number of councils where Conservatives are in alliance with Lib Dems — Birmingham for example. There’s no great drama about that.”

He added, however, that a hung Parliament was a remote possibility. “We are clearly aiming to win the next election outright.”

Mr Maude, in an interview with The Independent, also issued an appeal for wavering Tories to support Michael Howard’s proposal to give MPs, rather than party members, the final say in leadership elections. But he also raised the prospect that future leadership contests could be held in the style of American primaries, whereby registered Tory supporters would have a say as well as party members.

He said: “You want the leader of the party to be elected with the widest possible level of support.”

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