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Today's Top ConservativeHome Features Tory Diary: If the Conservative Party is in decline, whose fault is that? Energy Minister Greg Barker MP on Comment:How this Government is cutting energy bills Today's ConservativeHome Newslinks Bad news: Prime Minister’s ally - our party activists are “mad, swivel-eyed loonsâ€� “Tory activists are 'mad, swivel-eyed loons', according to one of David Cameron’s closest  allies. The incendiary comment made at a private dinner this week is likely to plunge relations between the Prime Minister and his party to a new low. It offers a rare insight into the disregard and irritation felt by the Prime Minister’s inner circle towards Conservative Party members up and down the country. The senior figure, who has strong social connections to the Prime Minister and close links to the party machine, blamed grassroots members for the rebellion by MPs on Europe this week. Asked about Wednesday’s vote in which 116 Conservative MPs voted against the Queen’s Speech, the figure said: 'It’s fine. There’s really no problem. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons.' The remarks will worsen the rift between Mr Cameron and his party amid pressure from the Tory Right, who bounced the Prime Minister into publishing a draft referendum Bill on EU membership last week." The Times (£) Tories must not self-destruct – Macer Hall, Daily Express > Today: Tory Diary - If the Conservative Party is in decline, whose fault is that? > Yesterday: ToryDiary: When it comes to Europe, 17% of voters think Cameron is driven by beliefs, but 64% think he's driven by tactical calculations Nick Thornsby on Comment:  As a Liberal Democrat, I ask - What are you, our Coalition partners, playing at? Better News 1) Boost for Osborne as FTSE hits highest level since start of financial crisis “The stock market last night rose to its highest level since the financial crisis, providing a timely boost for Chancellor George Osborne. The FTSE 100 index of Britain’s biggest blue chip companies ended the day above 6,700 points for the first time since October 2007 – the month after the run on Northern Rock. It comes after Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King on Wednesday predicted a ‘modest but sustained’ recovery but warned inflation will remain ‘stubbornly high’⠀� â€“ Daily Mail EU bonus cap to catch more bankers â€“ Financial Times Better News 2) Green shoots for the Tories? “Wallowing in the mid-term doldrums, bickering over Europe, lacking any sense of vision or direction… by all the normal rules of politics, this should be a time of deep unpopularity for the Tories. Yet remarkably, a poll this week shows the party up two points – lagging only three behind Labour, which has slumped from 38 to 34 per centâ€� â€“ Daily Mail Comment Downing Street rebukes Philip Hammond amid leadership bid concern “Philip Hammond was rebuked by Downing Street on Friday over his criticism of gay marriage, amid concern that the defence secretary could be positioning for a leadership bid. A senior government official said Number 10 was ‘dismayed’ by Mr Hammond’s performance on the BBC’s Question Time, when he suggested that David Cameron was wasting parliamentary time and causing public anger by backing same sex marriagesâ€� –Financial Times > Yesterday: Nick Herbert MP on Comment: No-one will be forced to enter a gay marriage. No church will be forced to conduct a gay marriage. The case for the same-sex marriage bill. Tim Loughton MP on Comment: If you're gay, you can have a civil partnership. But if you're straight, you can't. What's equal about that? The Deep End: Heresy of the Week - Never mind UKIP, it’s young voters Conservatives should watch out for Hammond: "The grey man who could be David Cameron’s nemesis" “You may not have heard of Philip Hammond — there’s little reason why you should. After all, the Defence Secretary is not the most charismatic politician…However, behind Mr Hammond’s bank-manager-style exterior lies a man of considerable accomplishment…Some of his friends say that, keenly aware of his own abilities, he harbours a quiet determination to lead his party — which is reason enough to pay particular attention to his public pronouncements at a time when the Tories are facing something close to civil war over Europe. His announcement last weekend that he would vote to leave the EU were a referendum held now was remarkableâ€� – Simon Heffer, Daily Mail Charles Moore leans one way: "David Cameron isn’t a disaster, yet I long for a radical new leader..." “I find myself in the odd position of longing for a new leader (I don’t much mind from which party) who can propose – à la Thatcher, Roosevelt, de Gaulle – a quite different way ahead, and yet also feeling that Mr Cameron is not at all a disaster. If only he would bring…clarity to the subject of Europe…He seems to regard the issue as a migraine-inducing matter of party opinion-management rather than for what it is – the main constitutional, strategic and economic question which this country faces. On the subject of Europe, Cameron the great moderniser is painfully 20th centuryâ€� – Charles Moore,Daily Telegraph ...And Matthew Parris the other: "If Dave cuts a deal with UKIP I’m outta here" “Along with millions (I believe) of liberal Tory supporters, and millions more still undecided, I will never vote for any Conservative candidates who pay UKIP protection money by signing up to their policies in return for being given a clear run. We must expose any such deals and punish at the ballot box those who connive in them. It’s simple. A vote for a Tory- UKIP collaborator is a vote for UKIP…This week it began to appear that to cut any ice in Tory politics, you have to cut up rough and treat your party like a bar-room brawl. Well, here it is in bar-room language: cut a deal with UKIP, and I’m outta here. And (the Tories would find) outta here too would be millions moreâ€� – Matthew Parris, The Times (£)  UKIP, Britain’s newest political tribe – John Harris, theGuardian Women who wear trousers “deliberately making themselves unattractiveâ€� says UKIP donor – Daily Mail Salmond and Farage clash over anti-UKIP protest “Alex Salmond, Scottish first minister, has mocked complaints from Nigel Farage over his barracking by protesters at an Edinburgh pub, saying Scotland does not need the UK Independence party. In a testy BBC Scotland radio interview, Mr Farage condemned the protesters who surrounded him at a press event on Thursday as ‘fascist scum’ showing an ‘ugly face’ of Scottish nationalism.â€� – Financial Times Conservatives float two-tier benefits system in private survey in Labour marginals “The proposal for a two-tier benefits system is one of a number of Conservative policy ideas in a survey sent to members of the public in marginal seats held by Labour. The five page survey, obtained by Tribune magazine, contains 35 questions grouped under headings such as ‘helping with the cost of living’ and ‘making our welfare and benefits system fair’â€� – Daily Telegraph “Bedroom taxâ€� causes huge leap in hardship payments “The extent of the suffering inflicted by the “bedroom taxâ€� can be revealed for the first time today as figures show a 338 per cent leap in the number of people applying for emergency handouts in the month since it was imposed. In April, more than 25,000 people resorted to applying for discretionary housing payments (DHP) to help cover their rent, according to an analysis of 51 councils by the Independent. There were only 5,700 such claimants in the same month last yearâ€� -Independent Cameron accused of “scaremongeringâ€� over health tourism – Daily Telegraph Only 200 pensioners returned winter fuel payment – Sun Ed Miliband to risk wrath of Left by embracing limit on welfare –The Times (£) News in brief Cameron’s EU plan raises Paris-Berlin tensions – Financial Times EU to ban olive oil jugs from restaurants – Daily Telegraph Ministers urged to clarify nuclear power cost overruns – Daily Telegraph Stoke City launch investigation after pig’s head found in locker - Independent MPs accused of “demonizingâ€� US multinationals over tax – Financial Times Litvinenko widow accuses Hague of inquest cover-up - Guardian Lib Dem backs plain cigarette packs - Guardian How an adopted child fell victim to Oxford sex gang – The Times(£) Britons too sceptical to win Eurovision song contest – Financial Times Yesterday on ConservativeHome Comment: Mark Prisk MP: How this Government is boosting one of the great Thatcher policies - the Right to Buy Max Wind-Cowie:  Boys will be boys Nick Thornsby: As a Liberal Democrat, I ask - What are you, our Coalition partners, playing at? Local Government: Council byelection results from yesterday LeftWatch: The truth about Nick Clegg's manifesto referendum pledge  and how he is breaking it WATCH: From the Taxpayers Alliance - ‪Income Tax and National Insurance: What are you really paying?‬   Â