A Conservative MP has accused his party chairman, Baroness Warsi, of "self-destructive lunacy" over comments she made about the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip).
Speaking on the BBC's election night coverage, Baroness Warsi appeared to imply there was a link between Ukip and the BNP.
"Where Ukip is fielding candidates this time that the BNP did last time but they're not this time, I think that will have an impact," she said.
"There are members of Ukip who are from all sorts of political parties, but it is an interesting mix there in terms of the number of candidates," she added.
Writing on his blog on Wednesday, Northampton South MP Brian Binley said the Conservatives seem to "stagger from opinion poll to focus group with no sense of purpose or direction".
He added: "Voters don’t know what we stand for any more."
Binley said: "Then we’ve also got the joint chairman of the Party equating Ukip voters with the BNP. That, quite simply, is self-destructive lunacy."
"Ukip’s rise in popularity is a result of disaffected Conservatives looking elsewhere. We should be moving heaven and earth to win them back, not alienating them further with ill-considered insults."
Binley also criticised George Osborne and David Cameron for having "bad judgement" over the Budget and their links to News Corporation.
His comments came in the wake of terrible local election results for the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties.
"So what can David Cameron and the Conservatives do to regain the trust of the British? Firstly, he must concentrate on the things that actually matter – jobs, deficit reduction and growth" he said.
"It’s wonderful that the government has dropped the same-sex marriage bill and I’d urge them to do the same with the Lords reform."
The government insists it intends to press ahead with plans to introduce gay marriage but is consulting on how to go about it before bringing in legislation.
On Monday Binley told the Independent that the election result was a "major setback" and urged Cameron to "wake up and smell the coffee".