By . Tim Shipman . PUBLISHED: . 11:44 EST, 19 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:22 EST, 20 November 2013 . Warning: Planning minister Nick Boles warned the Tories will struggle to win without wooing voters who feel unable to vote Conservative at present . One of David Cameron’s closest allies has admitted the Tories are unable to win votes outside the South East and among young people because they are still seen as the ‘party of the rich’. Nick Boles said some of the electorate like the party’s policies ‘but they don’t trust our motives’, and that a way had to be found to convince these voters that Conservatives ‘are not aliens from another planet’. In an attack on the Tory Right, the Planning Minister admitted Mr Cameron’s attempts to detoxify the Tories’ image have failed after eight years at the helm. He said the Prime Minister should ‘shout from the rooftops’ about liberal policies such as gay marriage if he wants to win the next election. He even called for the creation of a new National Liberal Party to attract under-25s and suggested Tory MPs could run on joint tickets to boost support. Mr Boles was one of the first Tories to encourage David Cameron to change his party’s image when he became leader in 2005. But speaking at the Bright Blue Tory think tank yesterday he admitted the old caricature of the Conservatives as the party of the better off has not changed. He said: ‘The single biggest factor preventing people voting Conservative is the perception that we are the party of the rich. We have not done enough to reassure people about our motives.’ Mr Boles conceded that the Tories . will struggle to win a majority because ‘a significant number of people . will not even contemplate voting Conservative’. He argues young voters . will only back the Tories if the party campaigns on socially liberal . policies including allowing gay marriage. ‘We . should not shy away from those achievements but shout them from the . rooftops,’ Mr Boles said. ‘They should make us proud. Having taken the . pain, not to be proud of them is completely pointless. Trouble: David Cameron, pictured in Downing Street this morning, rejected the idea of a new party . Mr Boles went on: ‘This new group of voters represents a fantastic opportunity for our party. But we have no hope of securing their support if we approach them with the same proposition that we use to woo our stalwart supporters.’ Mr Boles said that failing to understand that will lead to the party ‘being pushed back into rural and suburban redoubt in the south of England’. His intervention comes after Sir John . Major said it was ‘truly shocking’ that a public school elite still runs . Britain – comments widely interpreted as a reference to figures such as . Mr Boles who went to public school Winchester before Oxford. The former . prime minister also warned Conservatives that pursuing a ‘core vote’ strategy would deliver the Tories ‘the wooden spoon’ on 2015. Coalition: Mr Boles noted that Michael Heseltine, pictured, stood as a National Liberal before the party formally merged with the Conservatives in the 1960s . Mr Boles once argued for a longstanding coalition between Tories and Liberal Democrats. But he said: ‘I did not realise that our coalition partners would do everything in their power to paint us as heartless extremists. And I underestimated the readiness of some in the Conservative party, and the press, to play up to the caricature and thereby fall squarely into their trap.’ Mr Boles said the Tories should reform the National Liberal Party, a ticket on which Michael Heseltine once stood in the 1950s, just as some Labour MPs are simultaneously members of the Co-op party. But the idea was rejected by Tory high command. A Downing Street source said: ‘This is not supported by No 10. It is not going to happen.’
Planning minister Nick Boles calls for a revival of National Liberal Party .
Joint-ticket candidates could woo voters from the Liberal Democrats .
Warns Lib Dems in coalition have cast Tories as 'heartless extremists'
But Number 10 quickly rejects idea: 'It is not going to happen'
By . Tim Shipman . PUBLISHED: . 11:44 EST, 19 November 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 04:22 EST, 20 November 2013 . Warning: Planning minister Nick Boles warned the Tories will struggle to win without wooing voters who feel unable to vote Conservative at present . One of David Cameron’s closest allies has admitted the Tories are unable to win votes outside the South East and among young people because they are still seen as the ‘party of the rich’. Nick Boles said some of the electorate like the party’s policies ‘but they don’t trust our motives’, and that a way had to be found to convince these voters that Conservatives ‘are not aliens from another planet’. In an attack on the Tory Right, the Planning Minister admitted Mr Cameron’s attempts to detoxify the Tories’ image have failed after eight years at the helm. He said the Prime Minister should ‘shout from the rooftops’ about liberal policies such as gay marriage if he wants to win the next election. He even called for the creation of a new National Liberal Party to attract under-25s and suggested Tory MPs could run on joint tickets to boost support. Mr Boles was one of the first Tories to encourage David Cameron to change his party’s image when he became leader in 2005. But speaking at the Bright Blue Tory think tank yesterday he admitted the old caricature of the Conservatives as the party of the better off has not changed. He said: ‘The single biggest factor preventing people voting Conservative is the perception that we are the party of the rich. We have not done enough to reassure people about our motives.’ Mr Boles conceded that the Tories . will struggle to win a majority because ‘a significant number of people . will not even contemplate voting Conservative’. He argues young voters . will only back the Tories if the party campaigns on socially liberal . policies including allowing gay marriage. ‘We . should not shy away from those achievements but shout them from the . rooftops,’ Mr Boles said. ‘They should make us proud. Having taken the . pain, not to be proud of them is completely pointless. Trouble: David Cameron, pictured in Downing Street this morning, rejected the idea of a new party . Mr Boles went on: ‘This new group of voters represents a fantastic opportunity for our party. But we have no hope of securing their support if we approach them with the same proposition that we use to woo our stalwart supporters.’ Mr Boles said that failing to understand that will lead to the party ‘being pushed back into rural and suburban redoubt in the south of England’. His intervention comes after Sir John . Major said it was ‘truly shocking’ that a public school elite still runs . Britain – comments widely interpreted as a reference to figures such as . Mr Boles who went to public school Winchester before Oxford. The former . prime minister also warned Conservatives that pursuing a ‘core vote’ strategy would deliver the Tories ‘the wooden spoon’ on 2015. Coalition: Mr Boles noted that Michael Heseltine, pictured, stood as a National Liberal before the party formally merged with the Conservatives in the 1960s . Mr Boles once argued for a longstanding coalition between Tories and Liberal Democrats. But he said: ‘I did not realise that our coalition partners would do everything in their power to paint us as heartless extremists. And I underestimated the readiness of some in the Conservative party, and the press, to play up to the caricature and thereby fall squarely into their trap.’ Mr Boles said the Tories should reform the National Liberal Party, a ticket on which Michael Heseltine once stood in the 1950s, just as some Labour MPs are simultaneously members of the Co-op party. But the idea was rejected by Tory high command. A Downing Street source said: ‘This is not supported by No 10. It is not going to happen.’
November 2013 . Warning: Planning minister Nick creation of a new National Liberal Party to the 1960s . Mr Boles once argued for a their power to paint us as heartless extremists. is not going to happen.’