Conservative Central Office, the party's headquarters for 45 years, is to be sold, according to the Times.

The sale of the long lease, to be announced by Michael Howard shortly, will raise about £6 million for the party's election war chest.

The Conservatives will then move into rented offices in Central London.

Lord Saatchi, the new joint chairman, hopes to be in a new headquarters before the next general election.

A senior Tory source told the paper last night: "It is decrepit, dispiriting, demoralising and now, finally, it is doomed. And not before time. It smacks of the old era. It is inefficient and expensive to maintain."