A senior Conservative frontbencher has said there is no need for anyone who believes in "moderate mainstream" principles to leave the party.

Damian Green's comments came as the Telegraph reported that up to 50 centre-left Tories were considering breaking away from the Conservative Party.

The paper reported that the group, including 12 prospective parliamentary candidates, had been holding meetings for several months to discuss the possibility of forming a new party with more libertarian views.

A number of Conservative MPs, including several frontbenchers, were also said to have attended functions where the ideas were discussed.

Emails sent by members of the group indicate dissatisfaction with the party's poor showing in opinion polls, said the Telegraph.

There has also been consideration of possible structures and funding for the new group, which has been given the working name of the Start Again Party.

However Damian Green, the shadow education secretary and a leading figure on the modernising wing of the party, said that under Iain Duncan Smith the Conservative's were already adopting "mainstream" views.

"Anyone who shares moderate mainstream conservative philosophies is now not just at home in the Conservative Party, but actually represents the main thrust of Conservative policy," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"We are changing the Conservative Party so it once again reconnects with the broad mass of the British people.

"Instead of doing some of the things we have done in the past which we have done wrong, we are now actually addressing the real issues that matter to the British people."

And Green said he knew nothing about the discussion said to have taken place. "I know nothing of it. I don't know who is doing the talking," he told the BBC.