Leaders of the fuel tax protests have split into warring camps, accusing each other of hijacking the movement, while promoting rival direct action plans - including blockading supermarket food distribution centres - if Gordon Brown fails to meet their demands next month.
At the centre of the infighting are two of the most prominent leaders of last month's fuel blockades, Brynle Williams, the 51-year-old Welsh smallholder, who kicked off the protests at Stanlow refinery in Cheshire, and David Handley, chairman of the People's Fuel Lobby, who has made the running since the blockades were called off.
Mr Williams yesterday accused Mr Handley of "running round the country setting up splinter groups."
"He's creating an element of fear among the public," said Mr Williams. "I don't know what his real agenda is." He added there was a risk that "everything that has been gained up to now will be lost".
Mr Handley, 48, who was last week bailed by police after being held overnight following alleged damage to a meat processing plant in Merthyr Tydfil, said of Mr Williams: "Who does he represent? I'm waiting for the man to come out and say who he represents."
The row is partly a battle over leadership and organisation and partly an argument over tactics in the run-up to the 60-day deadline - set by Mr Williams as he called off the blockade at the Stanlow refinery in Cheshire - and the chancellor prepares to reveal his response.
The farmers' and hauliers' groups are unlikely to be satisfied by whatever concessions he makes. But they also know that, given the preparations of government and police, they will not achieve the impact on fuel supplies they had last month by blockading oil refineries.
Among the alternatives being suggested by protest organisers are blockades of supermarket food distribution depots.
The country's five main supermarket chains - Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda, Safeway and Waitrose - operate around 50 giant warehouses, which are the hub of daily fresh food deliveries. Protesters have blocked individual depots briefly in the past and are convinced they are an easy target. But some protesters fear such a move would alienate public support.
Robert Burns, a leader of last month's Grangemouth blockade, insists: "Unless the government meets our demand and reduces the duty on fuel within the 60 days, all hell will break loose. It will be like Armageddon. People can live without fuel but they can't live without food."
Protest organisers are also considering blockades of ports and feeder terminals, like the St Fergus oil and gas terminal near Aberdeen, which pipes oil from the North Sea and elsewhere down to Grangemouth, Scotland's only refinery. Protesters reckon St Fergus, which needs regular fuel supplies to keep the pumps going, would be easier to shut down than the high-profile Grangemouth.
Orchestrated national grid power surges and main road lorry go-slows could form a third line of attack for protesters. Some groups believe that while police will be able to crack down on motorway blockades - one idea floated publicly this week has nevertheless been to block the M25 - it will be more difficult to stop go-slows on A roads.
But so far the only definite plan is for a national demonstration in London, called for November 14 by Mr Handley's group. "Unless Mr Brown slashes fuel tax," Mr Handley said yesterday, "we intend to bring the country to London and have the fishermen come up the Thames."
But other protest organisers are having none of it, accusing Mr Handley, a Conservative supporter who is also a leader of the direct action group Farmers for Action, of being a failing farmer intent on carving a new career out of his new role.
"North Wales will not be on Handley's march," Clive Swann, one of last month's protest organisers, said yesterday. "Has he been got at, trying to get us all down to London, while the rest of the country's safe? There's no need to form an organisation to make a protest - it leaves you wide open to infiltration by political factions like the National Front."
Richard Haddock, who was spokesman for the blockades in Plymouth, is also critical of the People's Fuel Lobby, set up in Stafford after last month's protest, complaining that "the south-west has never been invited to go to a meeting". He is also a Conservative supporter, but warns other groups against "holding a gun to the head of the government".
Mr Handley rejects the criticism and insists his only agenda is to win a fuel tax cut of 26 pence for the British people. But as the November 13 deadline approaches, Brynle Williams, the original leader of the protests, is angry that any campaigning is currently taking place at all.
"I'm fed up - I said nothing should happen for 60 days," he said yesterday. "One minute I'm the man everyone's supposed to look to and next they're creating splinter groups. What I'm terrified of with these meetings they're holding is that a group of people will kick off somewhere, close a refinery, a supermarket, a petrol station and everything we gained up to now will be lost."
