Mark Field, Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster has come out of the traps to criticise David Cameron's campaign at Ealing Southall.
Mr Field was on Radio Four's PM last night and is all over the press this morning. That coverage emanates from an article he wrote on Conservative Home. It is very strong stuff.
In the article, Field says that Cameron may have done "lasting damage" to the party's relations ethnic communities. He criticises the choice of Tony Lit as candidate, accuses Cameron of showing "contempt" towards local Tory supporters and "the local electorate at large". He accuses Cameron of "exploiting" racial divisions in a way that was seen as "blatant opportunism". Field says that the party's leadership "ignored" warnings about this.
He says the Tory vote "flatlined"at 22.5% and compares this to the 50 years before 1997 when the Conservative vote never went below 30% in Ealing Southall.
Field has made clear he sees the five councillors who came across to the Tories as a "dissident" group and not people with ideological differences with Labour, as their defection was presented.
Field says that Cameron's campaign has left a "divided and demoralised local Conservative force".
Field says that the Tories had a "wonderful opportunity" to demonstrate that the party embraces British Asian communities. He says local Conservatives worked "tirelessly" for many years to build up the Tories' relationships with Ealing Southall ethnic communities and says: "Much of this effort now lies in tatters."
After writing all this I notice that Liberal England pounced on this before me but I didn't initially find Jonathan's article when I did a quick search
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