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Cameron sends love letter to Tory 'loons': As UKIP close to within two points, the Prime Minister offers an olive branch to activists

Perilous: David Cameron leaving Conservative Central Headquarters in Millbank today

David Cameron issued a love letter to Tory activists last night as UKIP closed to within two points in the opinion polls.

The peace offering followed revelations that a senior ally of the Prime Minister had branded the party faithful ‘swivel-eyed loons’. MPs warn that his leadership is in peril amid discontent on Europe and gay marriage.

The scale of the crisis was shown last night by a new poll that puts the Tories down five points on just 24 per cent, 11 behind Labour.

UKIP – up six points in a month – was on 22 per cent, double the level of Lib Dem support.In his email to party members, Mr Cameron said: ‘We have been together through good times and bad. This is more than a working relationship; it is a deep and lasting friendship.’

Referring to reports that Tory co-chairman Lord Feldman – a tennis partner of Mr Cameron – had insulted them, he added: ‘ I am proud to lead this party. I am proud of what you do. And I would never have around me those who sneered or thought otherwise.

‘We are a team, from the parish council to the local association to Parliament, and I never forget it.’

The dire poll ratings will fuel the discontent of Tory MPs who warned yesterday the number prepared to force a leadership election has risen in recent days.

If 46 write letters to Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, there would be a vote of no confidence in Mr Cameron.

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A senior MP said: ‘Three or four weeks ago it felt like we had turned a corner. Now it feels like the wheels are coming off pretty fast.’ 

A plotter said: ‘By my reckoning between 18 and 23 letters could go in overnight. Cameron is by no means out of the woods and won’t be for the next two years.’

Insult: Lord Andrew Feldman, chairman of the Conservative Party and personal friend of David Cameron, has denied calling Tory activists 'swivel-eyed loons'

MPs warn that a by-election loss to UKIP would lead to ‘meltdown’ in the party.

The Conservative Party board discussed the Lord Feldman issue for 35 minutes yesterday and rejected calls from Tory MP and board member Brian Binley to hold a full investigation.

Lord Feldman repeated his denial that he said the words attributed to him. That section of the meeting was chaired by co-chairman Grant Shapps with Lord Feldman still in the room.

Capitalising: UKIP leader Nigel Farage can celebrate that his party is twice as popular as the Lib Dems

Both faced criticism over the ‘disconnect’ between the leadership and the grassroots, over the way the affair was handled and over No 10’s decision to attack the media for its reporting. Mr Shapps admitted Tory high command must do more to connect with party members, stressing party chiefs would ‘redouble its efforts’.

After the meeting, Mr Binley said: ‘It was agreed that there was a need to narrow the gap between the party and the country and the leadership.’ But he also suggested that Mr Cameron still ought to do more to get to the bottom of the ‘Swivelgate’ incident.

‘If it were my company, I would want to find out exactly what had happened because I would want to put it right and make sure it didn’t happen for the next time,’ he said. Miles Windsor, chairman of Conservative Grassroots, said: ‘I find it absolutely astonishing that this insult to the Conservative Party isn’t being investigated.

‘If an investigation conclusively revealed the attributed comments were not made by a senior party member it would set minds at rest.

‘To dismiss any investigation smacks of arrogance and cover-up. This seems to confirm the leadership’s contempt for its grassroots.’

Those present at the meeting said the party board – a group of MPs, peers, donors and local party bosses – backed Lord Feldman because he works assiduously for the party. But some privately expressed concerns the co-chairman was simply expressing the views of Mr Cameron.

One of them said: ‘The Swivelgate story plays into the wider sense in the party and the country that there is an aching void between most of the British people and a small group of gilded elite who don’t understand them.’




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