Parting shot by No 10 policy chief

THERESA May’s policy chief last night stood down from his role at No 10 – as he warned the party does not have a ‘coherent economic programme’.

George Freeman demanded a wholesale shake-up of the Tory party and said ‘ambitious’ party reform was needed to reconnect with younger voters in the wake of the ‘ill-conceived’ general election campaign.

He wrote on the Conservative Home website: ‘Given the deepening disconnection between the Conservative Party and the new generation of aspirational voters under 45, the new intellectual battle of ideas reshaping our political landscape, this is now urgent.’ The Mid Norfolk MP also called for Patrick McLoughlin to be replaced as chairman of the Conservatives.