The only impact it will have is that when we get back to Parliament, when the Commons comes back, Blair and other government ministers will be very eager to constantly tell Conservatives they’re nasty and that even their own party calls them nasty.”He said the only nastiness in the party “was among the group of people who pulled down Margaret Thatcher and left the party utterly rudderless for some time”.He said Mrs May had to ask herself why people voted for the party in 1979, 1983 and 1987 if it was seen as “nasty”.. The Tory defence spokesman endorsed President George Bush’s doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against rogue states such as Iraq yesterday, exposing fresh divisions in the party. a time-limited resolution which leaves Saddam in no doubt as to what must be done”.But Mr Jenkin called for a more hawkish approach and said “taking the fight to the enemy, before the threats come to us” is “the fundamental principle of our modern defence” President Saddam should be replaced, he said. “Iraq should be a foundation for stability in the Arab world, not a sponsor of suicide bombers.”The shadow Secretary of State for Defence said he hoped to welcome “the leaders of a democratic Iraq” to a future Tory conference, adding: “We have no quarrel with the Iraqi people. They know who is the real oppressor.”Meanwhile, the Falklands War hero Simon Weston attacked government ministers for supplying troops with the SA80 rifle, which they say they do not trust.

Mr Weston, who was badly burnt in the Falklands, said: “Iraq could be a conflict like we have never seen before. If we want to bring them back looking like me or, even worse, in body bags, then do not give them the right equipment.”. A senior Tory frontbencher yesterday attacked the party’s “prissy”, uncaring attitudes, insisting that the “cold war” on gays should end and a new war on poverty should begin. We have seemed detached from the public-service issues which affect city residents.

We are organisationally weaker in urban constituencies than at any time I can remember.”Mr Bercow savaged the Conservatives’ attitudes to poverty, warning: “Our problem is that we have lost the reputation that we can cope, without acquiring the reputation that we care.”He condemned the Tories’ opposition to the minimum wage as a “catastrophic blunder” and called for a review of benefits, “not to remove them from the poorest in society, but to ensure they work effectively.”He also condemned discrimination on grounds of sex, age, race, disability or sexual orientation: “Of course, there is scope for debate about the means by which to end discrimination, but there should be no quarrel about the need to do so. The case for equal treatment is not about political correctness It is about human decency.”. Grandparents, parents and teachers will be encouraged to tip off police about suspected teenage drug users under Tory plans to force addicts to attend treatment clinics or be jailed. Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary, said his party would give up to 20,000 young heroin and cocaine users the option of avoiding a criminal record if they attend rehabilitation schemes.