LET’S quit while we’re behind. It’s time for a time out. We’ll win by losing.

These are some of the astonishing comments by leading conservatives who hope the Democrats will win November’s congressional elections.

In a snub to President George W Bush, a growing number of Republicans believe the country will benefit from the checks and balances of a divided government.

The idea that there is a silver lining to losing the House of Representatives, if not the Senate, is gaining ground at the very time when Republicans’ hopes of holding on to their majority in Congress have been rising.

With a quartet of prominent Republican senators, including presidential hopeful John McCain, leading a revolt against Bush’s anti-terror legislation, the electoral contest is beginning to take on the air of an all-Republican affair, with the Democrats reduced to the role of onlookers.

McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, is resisting Bush’s proposals for terrorist detainees, which could redefine America’s obligations under the Geneva conventions and permit the CIA to continue using harsh interrogation measures.

The party revolt began as a wheeze in Washington Monthly, a left-wing magazine, which teasingly invited half a dozen staunch rightwingers to explain why the Republicans deserved to lose. “‘Count me in’, was my chipper response,” said Joe Scarborough, a former congressman turned broadcaster. He had been appalled by the profligacy of the Bush government, which has permitted spending to rise by an average of 10.4% a year.

Christopher Buckley, a satirical novelist and son of conservative guru William Buckley, not only laid into Bush’s “incontinent conservatism” but also the unleashing of “sectarian carnage” in Iraq. In a pastiche of one of America’s founding fathers, he said: “Hand over the tiller of government, that others may f*** things up for a change.”

The writers expected their remarks to be greeted with outrage. Instead the Republican rot went mainstream with an article in The New York Times last week by Ramesh Ponnuru, a leading conservative ideologue who argued that “a straight loss . . . would make the Republicans hungrier and sharpen their wits.”

By Friday the debate reached National Review, the bible of conservatism, where Jonah Goldberg, a former Bush cheerleader, conceded: “I can’t quite hope the Democrats win. But I can’t bring myself to say I’d like more of the same.” Republicans had been enjoying a lift in the polls before the McCain rebellion and outbreak of internal dissent.

According to Rasmussen’s daily tracking poll, Bush’s approval ratings rose from a low of 40% to a high of 47% in a fortnight, buoyed up by the fifth anniversary of September 11, a series of war on terror speeches and — not least — declining petrol prices.

But the war on terror afterglow could fade now that McCain has taken on the president on his strongest turf, by rejecting Bush’s proposals for the treatment of detainees as morally reprehensible, inhumane and dangerous for captured American servicemen.

In response, Bush has threatened to close down the CIA interrogation programme credited with preventing Al-Qaeda attacks if his legislation is not passed, as intelligence officials may be left vulnerable to war crimes charges.

Although Bush has not specified the interrogation techniques, they are thought to include the use of prolonged sleep deprivation and stress positions. The issue was supposed to divide the Democrats from Republicans, not ignite internal strife, but McCain has told aides he is willing to risk his chances of winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 by standing up for his principles.

However, David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter who coined the phrase “axis of evil”, believes that McCain’s stance could help him secure the Republican nomination, even if it derails Bush’s electoral strategy.

It may be in McCain’s interests for the Republicans to get a drubbing in the November elections, Frum suggested. “He is offering a tough love approach: you may not like me, but I’m the only one who can save you. ‘McCain or else’ is a pretty powerful message.”

The desire for a Bush “clone” to lead the party into the 2008 elections is fading. One sign of the moderate conservative centre’s improving fortunes was the victory last week of Lincoln Chafee, a Republican and frequent Bush critic, in a primary election for Rhode Island senator.

The contrast could not be greater with the Democrats, who allowed Joe Lieberman, the pro-Iraq-war senator for Connecticut and former vice-presidential nominee, to be tossed overboard by the anti-war left.

The rise of the left has hitherto been one of the Republicans’ strongest arguments for keeping control of the House. The prospective Democrat speaker would be Nancy Pelosi, an anti-war Californian and hate-figure for the Republicans. They fear she will be tempted to spend the next two years investigating the conduct of the war and trying to impeach Bush.

Even that argument no longer washes with disaffected conservatives, according to Bruce Bartlett, another contributor to Washington Monthly. “Bring on Pelosi,” he urged. Voters treated to Democrat follies will be more likely to vote for a Republican president, he believes. If the one-party government that Bush has enjoyed has got to give, it is better that it cracks now than in 2008.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Afghanistan News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Times Charity Appeal: SolarAid
• Is it Black Monday all over again for Dubai?
• Behind the scenes at the biggest deal