David Cameron’s leadership faced the first murmurings of revolt yesterday as MPs, officials and activists reacted with dismay to the Tory party’s failure in by-elections in Ealing Southall and Sedgefield.

As party elders urged calm, saying that the Conservatives must not turn in on themselves in the face of a Labour revival, Mr Cameron for the first time faced public criticism from mainstream MPs, with one of them accusing him of exploiting racial divisions in the London contest.

There was talk of a “wobble”, the first under Mr Cameron, within the parliamentary party and it emerged that George Bridges, the campaign director, was quitting. His departure was agreed two weeks ago but the disclosure yesterday added to the sense of unease in Tory circles.

The Conservatives were beaten into third place in both battles and Tory websites and blogs yesterday were dismissive of the leadership’s strategy, which was blamed for causing lasting damage to the party’s relations with British Asians. Mark Field, MP for the Cities of London and Westminster, attacked his party’s campaign in Southall for blatant opportunism in its attempts to woo the area’s large Sikh community.

He was particularly critical of the defection to the Tories of five Labour councillors, all Sikhs, during the campaign, saying that the party had been manipulated by a dissident group but presented their move as an ideological one. The ringleader applied to be the Labour candidate and, after being rejected, defected and accused Labour of not being willing to have a turbaned Sikh as an MP.

“Our consequent attempts to woo the Sikh vote in Southall by exploiting divisions, which have racked the local Sikh and Hindu communities for decades, also struck many as blatant opportunism,” Mr Field wrote on the website conservativehome.com. “To many neutral observers these actions betrayed a failure by our party to treat sensitively the potentially explosive racial divisions within Ealing Southall.”

His criticisms raised the stakes as the Conservatives began an inquest into how they performed so badly despite a well-funded and high-profile campaign. Their choice of candidate was one reason. Tony Lit, a Sikh businessman who ran his father’s Sunrise radio station in Southall, had no links with the party other than having voted Tory in four general elections.

Incredibly, Tory campaign managers had known from the outset that, weeks before his selection, Mr Lit had attended an Asian community farewell dinner for Tony Blair and had had his photograph taken with the outgoing Prime Minister. They disputed its description as a Labour fundraising event, even though Sunrise made out its £4,800 cheque to the Labour Party.

A leading moderniser said that Tory MPs were questioning Mr Cameron’s direction: “There is a lot of talk about style over substance. There is a lot of talk about it being a PR machine. The accusations that the Labour Party have been making are being regurgitated by Tory MPs. One senior back-bencher has been privately questioning whether the emperor is wearing any clothes.”

It also emerged that Mr Cameron had clashed with traditionalist MPs over his request that statements from party groups, such as the traditionalist Cornerstone, should be cleared through party headquarters. Party sources said there was a real desire to stop the party turning in on itself.

Phil Wilson won Sedgefield for Labour to succeed Mr Blair although the Liberal Democrats, who overtook the Conservatives to go into second place, saw a big rise in their share of the vote. The results will take the pressure off Sir Menzies Campbell, their leader.

Mr Wilson, 48, an old friend and former aide of Mr Blair, was at his unglamorous office in the dilapidated town centre of Newton Aycliffe, by 9.15am yesterday. Drinking coffee from a polystyrene cup to compensate for lack of sleep and surrounded by stickers and flyers left over from a successful campaign, he spent his morning replying to congratulatory messages and greeting constituents.

Results

Sedgefield - Lab hold

Name Votes % of vote
Phil Wilson (Lab) 12,528 (44.80%)
Greg Stone (LD) 5,572 (19.93%)
Graham Robb (C) 4,082 (14.60%
Andrew Spence (BNP)2,494 (8.92%)
Paul Gittins (Ind) 1,885 (6.74%)

2005
Lab maj 18,449 (44.48%)
Turnout 41,475 (62.21%)

Ealing Southall - Lab hold

Virendra Sharma (Lab)15,188 (41.48%)
Nigel Bakhai (LD) 10,118 (27.63%)
Tony Lit (C) 8,230 (22.48%)
Sarah Edwards (Green)1,135 (3.10%)
Salvinder Dhillon (Respect) 588 (1.61%)

2005
Lab maj 11,440 (24.32%)
Turnout 47,045 (56.18%)

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