IN an interview published in a newspaper yesterday Iain Duncan Smith chose to blame John Major's Government for today's plight of the Conservatives.

On the eve of his party's conference we expect and prefer the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition to concentrate attacks and insults on the present Government, rather than one which left office five-and-a-half years ago.

But Mr Duncan Smith's interview is symptomatic of the desperate state in which the Conservatives find themselves today.

Tony Blair's Government is approaching midway in its second term of office. As the Countryside March highlighted last month, it is hugely unpopular in the rural constituencies where the Conservatives are traditionally strong.

And because of its uncompromising stance against Iraq, the Government is unpopular in parts of Labour's traditional heartland.

Against such a background, the Conservatives should be dictating the political agenda and relishing the prospect of gathering in Bournemouth this week.

But today's Conservative Party remains haunted by spectres of its past, which explains why Mr Duncan Smith felt it necessary yesterday to exorcise the sins of the last Conservative administration.

That accomplished in his interview, Mr Duncan Smith may want to switch attention to the present, and the 25 new policies he and his Shadow Cabinet team will pronounce from the platform over the next few days.

But few will bet against the ghosts of Conservatism past - in the shape of John Major, Edwina Currie and Lord Archer - remaining to the fore at the end of the week.

These are bleak times for Mr Duncan Smith. There is rebellion in the ranks and talk of moves to oust him. But the troubles of the Conservative Party are not with its leadership, but with itself.

It appears unwilling to come to terms with the fact that it is no longer the natural party of government, as it was throughout the 20th Century.

It must turn its attention to a debate on the future, instead squabbles over the past.

It needs to rejuvenate and re-invigorate itself, and give its leader the freedom to undertake the task to make it relevant in this century as it was in the last.

The longer it remains shackled to the past, the more it will become trapped in the political wilderness.

This week in Bournemouth gives it the opportunity to start breaking free.