Voters think Tories are repulsive and reactionary, says party think-tank

The Conservative Party has a "reactionary" and "repulsive" image, a Tory think-tank suggested yesterday as it urged Iain Duncan Smith to speed up his plans to modernise the party.

CChange, a group set up by allies of Michael Portillo, held its first debate last night, which was billed as: "Tory culture – right but repulsive?" The agenda for the meeting said: "What is wrong with the Conservative Party? Why does it alienate non-Tories? Does it tend to attract the politically reactionary and the socially maladroit?"

The question was discussed by a panel including Trish Morris, the vice-chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for candidates; Steve Hilton, who has worked at both Conservative Central Office and Saatchi and Saatchi, the party's former advertising agency; and Marc Glendening, the campaign director of the Democracy Movement and a former Tory student leader.

CChange added: "Up to now the focus of attention has been on the need for the Conservative Party to abandon outdated and unpopular policies. The panel will examine the nature of Tory internal culture and whether it too has contributed to the party's estrangement from the British public."

Francis Maude, the group's chairman, who has warned that the Tories must "modernise or die", said Mr Duncan Smith needed to go further and faster on reforming the party.

He said the Tories would not regain power through a pendulum effect despite the voters' lack of trust in the Government. The Tory party must prove itself "a worthy recipient of people's trust", become wider and broader, and break free of its stereotype. "It's quite simple: we need to look like Britain, sound like Britain and, above all, be like Britain if we want Britain to vote for us again," he said.

Mr Maude's criticism irritated the Tory leadership and prompted one shadow cabinet member to ask: "Who does he think he is?" Ann Widdecombe, a former shadow home secretary, said: "I think we should keep our nerve. You should not be so mesmerised by the fact that you find yourself in opposition that you lose sight of what is important which is to ... create the sort of Britain that people want to live in."