Just when the Conservative Party is starting to look electable after more than a decade, it implodes as internecine fighting breaks out again...

David Cameron was tonight struggling to prevent Tory in-fighting over Europe overshadowing his pre-election conference. The Tory leader's hopes of using the Manchester gathering to showcase his commitment to tackle unemployment were badly disrupted by a resurgence of bickering over the Lisbon treaty.

A proposal to use a cut in Employer National Insurance to create 60,000 new jobs was one of the flagship policies unveiled by shadow chancellor George Osborne. But it was overshadowed by a string of grandees and MPs who defied their leader by arguing publicly over whether there should be a referendum on the treaty if it is already law when the Tories next take power

Just remember, it was two Conservative Prime Ministers (Heath & Major) that signed us bulldogs up for some of the most damaging ‘Treaties’ – complete capitulation more bl**dy likely. Do I trust Tory Boy Cameron on Europe? I wouldn’t trust any one of them to sit the right way round on the lavatory seat