David Cameron is causing discontent among his party's core voters by "freezing out" Tory traditionalists, a leading rightwinger has warned, in a rare public display of dissent among some Conservative MPs about their leader's strategy.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the public accounts select committee and a member of the Cornerstone group of socially conservative MPs, has mounted a concerted critique of Mr Cameron's re-positioning of the Tories in the political centreground.