The Tories looked like a "ramshackle bunch of amateurs" under Iain Duncan Smith, the party's co-chairman said yesterday.

Addressing a parliamentary press gallery lunch, Dr Liam Fox also attacked William Hague's leadership, arguing that apologies for past mistakes by Conservative governments had undermined their achievements.

He insisted that the party had since changed, hailing this year's conference in Bournemouth a success.

"Are we different from who we were before, which looked like a ramshackle bunch of amateurs? And I think that that conference was a step change for the party and it had to be," he said.