Conservative Voice, backed by several MPs, to tell prime minister obsession with rebranding is alienating core voters

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

David Cameron will be told that he should spend less time on modernising and detoxifying the Conservative brand and focus more attention on core Tory values if the party is to win the next election.

Leaders of a new group, Conservative Voice, are to say that the party needs to work harder to ensure it once again becomes the party of aspiration.

The group, which is supported by David Davis and Liam Fox, is the brainchild of the ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie and the former chairman of the National Conservative Convention, Don Porter.

Its advisory board includes Conor Burns, who resigned as a ministerial aide over House of Lords reform, and the campaigning Tory MPs Priti Patel, Robert Halfon and Dom Raab.

Porter outlined the thinking behind the group in a Telegraph article in April in which he called on the party to have the courage to stand up for its traditional values.

He wrote: "In recent times, there has been an almost evangelical focus on the 'modernisation' or 'detoxification' of the Conservative brand. The result has been a growing disconnect between the party leadership and the grassroots, and a loss of clarity, principle and policy direction.

"The Conservative party has, at its best, always been radical and reforming. Under Disraeli and Shaftesbury, it introduced social reforms before Labour even existed.

"But 'detoxification' saw us ignore issues where we were clearly in tune with the voters, such as immigration and Europe. Even just talking about them was seen as reinforcing the supposed 'nasty party' image and alienating voters."