In a barnstorming speech - rapturously received by delegates in a Tory fringe meeting, Norman Tebbit warned against alienating the party's core supporters.

He said: "If a burglar burgles your house and you hit him and you knock him down the stairs and if you hurt him, tough luck. That is the consequences of his actions."

The Tory fundamentalist also remarked: "I've never known the Conservative Party to be nasty to homosexuals."

"Certainly, if we had been, we wouldn't have so many homosexual MPs. Don't kid me there's only one or two," he added.