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Thaksin made his calls from Britain from Monday night up till the start of the PPP meeting on Tuesday, according to key faction members.

Suthin Klangsang, a northeastern MP close to Thaksin's former aide Newin Chidchob, said the former PM called Newin just before the PPP meeting began on Tuesday afternoon.

Thaksin said he was aware of MPs' love for him but he wanted them to remain united and to support to Samak, the party leader, Suthin said.

"Don't blame the party leader. He has done his best. Please help stabilise the party," Thaksin was quoted as saying.

The former premier also called MPs in other groups loyal to him, such as those from the North, Northeast and Central region.

Paijit Sriworakhan, an MP from Nakhon Phanom who leads the Isaan Pattana (Developed Northeast) faction, said Thaksin phoned "all groups" in the party, calling for "things to be settled peacefully".

"He wants stability to allow the government space to run the country. If the conflict continues, the problems won't be over," Paijit said.

MP Natee Sutinphuak, from Samut Prakan, said Thaksin also talked to MPs in his group about the matter on Monday night.

Meanwhile, a source from Newin's group said Newin would fly to Britain in a few days to talk to Thaksin in a bid to clear any infighting within the ruling party.

An MP loyal to Thaksin said that Prime Minister Samak's explanation to People Power Party MPs about the police wanted posters for the ex-PM and his wife had restored unity within the ruling party.

Surapong Tovichakchaikul, a People Power MP for Chiang Mai, said Samak's remarks at the party meeting on Tuesday had helped MPs' understand the situation.

He said party MPs agreed to continue supporting the government and would still back Samak as premier.

"It seems our party is even more united now. In the past, Samak didn't come to offer his explanation [at party meetings] because he was too busy with work solving the country's problems. I believe that after the prime minister's comments on Tuesday, we will have more unity," Surapong said.

Samak insisted on Tuesday he was sympathetic to Thaksin and said he would never stab the ex-PM in the back.

Surapong said party MPs from the North had agreed to remain together even if the PPP was dissolved over the electoral fraud case involving Yongyuth Tiyapairat.

"I believe that will also be the case for party MPs from the Northeast and Central region," he said.

The MP, who chairs the House committee on finance, banking and financial institutions, said he and six or seven other MPs in his group would travel to Britain to meet Thaksin.

"We will certainly go", after passage of the 2009 Budget Bill in mid-September, he said. "We will offer him moral support and tell him some facts."

Meanwhile, PPP deputy Somchai Wongsawat said his wife Yaowapa, who is Thaksin's sister, did not attend the party meeting on Tuesday. He said Yaowapa went to the IFCT Building, which houses the PPP headquarters, simply to pay respect to a Buddha statuette she inherited from her parents.

"She knows people in the party, so it's not unusual for her to talk to her friends there," he said.

Some PPP MPs said earlier that Yaowapa, a banned former executive of the disbanded Thai Rak Thai Party, called on Samak to defend Thaksin's human dignity and his honour as a former national leader.

In a related development, lawyers for Thaksin yesterday threatened to sue the People's Alliance for Democracy for "wrongfully circulating" photos of Thaksin and his wife depicting the two as wanted fugitives.

Lawyer Watchara Saengpratoom claimed the PAD defamed and violated the privacy of Thaksin and Pojaman by "falsifying" the warrants to look like a wanted list before putting them on public display.

He said he would lodge a complaint with Dusit police to pave way for criminal and civil lawsuits.