A bad-tempered scuffle with Labour activists dressed in top hat and tails opened proceedings in the Crewe & Nantwich by-election yesterday.

David Cameron shrugged off chaos on the West Coast Main Line, which delayed his arrival, and accusations that he and his candidate were “Tory toffs”.

Two Labour Party activists, who described themselves as the “Tarporley toffs”, were ready to greet Mr Cameron and Edward Timpson, his candidate, outside the Conservatives’ campaign base. They were there to highlight Mr Timpson’s supposed wealth and privilege. Police moved in to haul them from the throng waiting to greet Mr Cameron.

Earlier Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, called into a working men’s club on the edge of town to join Tamsin Dunwoody, 49, the Labour candidate and daughter Gwyneth Dunwoody, whose death last month at the age of 77 triggered the by-election. Ms Dunwoody was a Labour member of the Welsh Assembly and served as a deputy minister before losing her seat last year.

She told The Times: “I have four generations of feisty, forthright, outspoken women behind me. I am known for it. Maybe that makes some people feel uneasy but I make no apology for it. I am a Dunwoody. I speak my mind.”

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