Tories urged to dump Etonian advisors

The influential backbencher, who lost out to Mr Cameron in the 2005 Conservative leadership election, said the Prime Minister should stop surrounding himself with fellow public schoolboys and must demonstrate that he understands the concerns of ordinary voters if the party is to bounce back from heavy losses in the council elections.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the surge in support for the UK Independence Party (Ukip) meant that the Tories must honour their pledge to hold an in/out referendum on EU membership after the next election.

But she rejected a call from Mr Davis to hold a referendum before next year’s European Parliament elections, which could see Ukip make more gains.

Ukip surge

A BBC projection gave Ukip a 23 per cent share of the national vote, just behind the Tories on 25 per cent with Labour ahead on 29 per cent and the Lib Dems trailing in fourth place on 14 per cent.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said the party – which gained 131 councillors – now stood every chance of gaining its first seat in the House of Commons at the next by-election in a marginal constituency.

With the Tories losing 340 councillors and the control of 10 councils, some Tory right-wingers are calling on the Prime Minister to firm up his commitment to holding a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU to counter the appeal of Ukip.

Mr Davis said the priority for Mr Cameron – who recently appointed fellow Old Etonian Jo Johnson to head the No 10 policy unit – was to reconnect with voters who think the Conservatives are out of touch.

The fact is that if we want to win the next election, we have to break this impression of being privileged and out of touch. David Davis

“The fact is that if we want to win the next election, we have to break this impression of being privileged and out of touch,” he said in The Daily Telegraph.

“The British public are neither snobs nor inverted snobs, but they do expect the Government to understand their problems and do something about it.

“That means more straight talking and fewer focus groups; more conventional Tory policies, not because they are Tory, but because they work; less pandering to metropolitan interest groups; and please, please, no more Old Etonian advisers.”

May hints at referendum move

Mrs May said the Conservatives must stand by David Cameron‘s plan to re-negotiate the terms of Britain’s membership and put the new settlement to the country.

She did not rule out introducing legislation in the current parliament to pave the way for a referendum after the next general election – despite the tensions it would create with their Liberal Democrat coalition partners.

Ukip’s surge in popularity posed problems for all three big parties.

While Labour made gains – picking up 268 councillors and taking control of two councils – analysts said the result fell short of the numbers needed to show that Ed Miliband is on course for a general election victory.

For the Liberal Democrats it was another grim set of results with the loss of 110 councillors. And the Lib Dems could only manage a humiliating seventh place in the South Shields parliamentary by-election, just ahead of the Monster Raving Loony Party.