For the first time since he was elected in December, senior members, speaking at the party’s spring forum in Manchester, have begun to raise concerns about Cameron’s approach as opinion polls show the party making little progress.

Some have warned of Cameron’s attempts to remodel the party as “fragile” while others have admitted that they are finding it hard to convey a new message to the electorate.

Some activists accused the leader of lacking concrete policies. One accused him of “Blairite presentationalism” and likened him to the “emperor with no clothes”.

In his first speech as leader at a Tory conference, Cameron appealed to activists to back his reforms, warning them to prepare for more radical change. He insisted his modernisation programme would pave the way to power following three consecutive election defeats, saying the party was “on the way back”.

In a significant break from the past, Cameron’s speech made no mention of traditional Tory issues such as law and order and immigration, instead emphasising new themes such as the environment, the shortage of attractive and affordable housing for young people and the costs of childcare for young families. Cameron insisted that the party must be “the place to go for the exciting ideas in British politics”. In his finale, he told party members that the “fire of hope” in the party was “burning bright once again”.

“It is our ideas, Conservative ideas, whose time has come again,” he said. But the upbeat speech contrasted with a gloomy mood among many colleagues. Shadow cabinet speakers at the conference were said to have struggled to fill their speeches because party policy for many of their portfolios was still being worked out.

One member of the shadow cabinet said: “The Cameron project is very fragile. There are a lot of mutterings.” One loyal frontbencher said Cameron had failed to capitalise on Labour’s troubles over the loans for peerages row, labelling it Cameron’s “first big spin failure”.

The shadow minister admitted: “I was tearing my hair out over it. Somehow we managed to let the focus drift away from Labour selling peerages to our own finances. We had nobody going for the political jugular.”

Oliver Letwin, head of policy review, acknowledged many voters did not see the party as compassionate or caring. “We are people who care about our communities and if we could get that message across, goodness, it would make a difference. There are millions and millions of people who don’t believe this is us. We have a huge task to do,” he said.

Some activists ridiculed a glossy “statement of aims and values” they were asked to approve before the conference closed, calling it meaningless.

There were complaints from some delegates that no concrete policies were being put forward. John Strafford, chairman of the Campaign for Conservative Democracy, said: “This document reminds me of a Blairite presentation. It is an insult to intelligent grassroots members. It is presentational junk. The emperor, at the moment, has got no clothes.”

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