Lord Heseltine has claimed the Conservatives cannot win the next election.

Speaking on BBC radio on Friday, the former deputy prime minister argued that leader Iain Duncan Smith was "leaving it a bit late" to capitalise on recent problems faced by the Labour government.

"They [voters] may be deploring what is happening in the Labour party," he said.

"But the fact is that Tony Blair has got 35 points in the polls [despite] major distractions and is set to win a significant victory in the next election."

Despite his poor predictions, the peer argued that Liberal Democrats would not become the official opposition.

"The Tories will recover to maintain themselves as the second party at the next election," he said.

"The only issue is how narrow the gap can be between Labour and the Conservatives."

In comments echoing those by party chairman Theresa May last year - in which she branded Conservatives the "nasty party" - he added the Tories still had a problem with their image.

"I think they [voters] suspect that they [the Conservatives] stand for something that they don't quite like," Heseltine said. "That's the real problem."