Tory grandee Malcolm Rifkind says he is "puzzled" by David Cameron's declaration that he will only serve two terms as Prime Minister.
Mr Cameron last week said he was standing for election to serve for a full second term, but ruled out staying on for a third term.
"Terms are like Shredded Wheat: two are wonderful but three might just be too many," Mr Cameron told BBC News.
Speaking to Sky News' Murnaghan on his last day as a Member of Parliament, Sir Malcolm said he was "surprised" the timing of Mr Cameron's announcement.
"I was puzzled by that. I'm not sure what the thinking was. I think it was to try to come across as somebody - 'I'm not power mad, I've got a job to do, finish the job, time to move on'," Sir Malcolm said.
"It's certainly true that we've got a sort of unofficial rule which Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair both fell victim to - 10 years and the public say 'thank you very much, don't ring us, we'll ring you'.
"So there was no great astonishment in what he said. It was the timing of it, just before a General Election. I was surprised, I have to say."
The Prime Minister also named three of his senior colleagues - Home Secretary Theresa May, Chancellor George Osborne and London mayor Boris Johnson - as potential successors as Conservative leader when he steps down.
Former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm said: "You cannot remotely assume now who in four or five years time is going to be the frontrunner. It could quite easily be none of the three."
Cabinet Minister Iain Duncan Smith, speaking to BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, also refused to be drawn on who would be the next Tory leader, but suggested it might be someone already in the public eye.
"I don't think that you're going to have in any shape or form a brand-new leader that the country has never seen, because all the people that might want to stand for that will have been up in the public sphere for some time," he said.
Mr Duncan Smith also appeared to contradict Mr Cameron when he said he would have to step down as Tory leader some time during the next Parliament in order for his replacement to be picked ahead of the poll expected in 2020.
The Prime Minister had claimed that he would serve "every day" of a second term and Downing Street suggested that he may fight the 2020 election before handing over to a successor.
Mr Duncan Smith, himself a former Conservative leader, added: "But I have to tell you - I have huge faith and I think this prime minister has done a fantastic job.
"I think I will be sorry to see him go, as and when he chooses to do that, because we have turned the economy around under his stewardship.
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Gallery: Rifkind's 40-Year Politics Career
Sir Malcolm Rifkind's political career has spanned 40 years. He became and MP in 1974 and was prominent in both Margaret Thatcher and John Major's Governments.
October 1986: Malcolm Rifkind, at the Conservative Conference at Blackpool
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