The Conservatives will lose the next general election unless they dramatically improve their performance, Michael Howard warned yesterday.

"The electoral system is such that if we are to win the next election and save the country - which is what we need to do - we need to be much further ahead," the shadow chancellor said.

Howard added that the Tories had to do a "lot more work [to] show people that the policies [it] will put in place will make their lives better".

A Labour spokeswoman said: "It's clear the Tories' summer in-fighting goes on."