The fightback that backfired: Tories in turmoil as PM David Cameron vows 'no lurch to Right' then signals curbs on migrants using NHS Senior Conservatives urge Chancellor to 'change direction' in Budget Prime Minister pledges party will not 'lurch to the right' But ministers signal new crackdowns on immigration and health tourism Confusing: David Cameron (pictured with Maria Hutchings, who came a poor third in Eastleigh) has come under fire after pledging the party would not 'lurch to the Right' as ministers signalled moves clearly aimed at pleasing the discontented grassroots Senior Conservatives last night urged George Osborne to "change direction" in this month's Budget - amid mounting alarm about both the economy and "incoherence" at the top of the party. David Cameron's former tax adviser Lord Forsyth said a package of radical tax cuts was needed to stimulate Britain's "flatlining" economy. And Mr Cameron himself also came under fire for potentially confusing the public after pledging the party would not "lurch to the Right" following the party's dire showing in last week's Eastleigh by-election. He made his comments just as ministers signalled new crackdowns on immigration, health tourism and human rights laws clearly aimed at pleasing the discontented grassroots. The mixed message frustrated senior party figures already unnerved following Eastleigh, where the Tories were pushed into third place behind the Liberal Democrats and the UK Independence Party. With an eye on the March 20 Budget, Lord Forsyth said Mr Osborne should "spend less time talking about an age of austerity and more time explaining how we can get back to an age of prosperity." He added: "Out there in the country people are hurting, their living standards are falling - they're finding it difficult to pay for their gas and electricity bills, the amount that's left in their pay packages after stoppages is getting less and less, and to coin an old cliché, it's the economy stupid, and George has actually got to change direction. He's got to put a touch on the tiller, he's got to start cutting taxes and encourage enterprise to invest, because at the moment we are flatlining and we're spending far more than we are bringing in income and the electorate understand that. Former Chief Whip Andrew Mitchell also warned that the Budget could trigger a dangerous phase for the Chancellor and Prime Minister unless they could convince increasingly rattled backbenchers they had a recipe for restoring Tory fortunes. Former minister Tim Loughton said the Government needed to start "doing some of the thing that people voted Conservative for at the last election. That's about reducing taxes rather than coming up with new taxes, it's about recognising families are having a tough time and recognising marriage and families in the tax system which we said we would do and haven't. Mr Cameron insisted yesterday that he would not respond to the growing Ukip threat by adopting a string of new Right-wing policies. He said he recognised that people felt Britain's problems were "not being fixed fast enough by the Government I lead." But he added: "The battle for Britain's future will not be won in lurching to the Right, nor by some cynical attempt to calculate the middle distance between your political opponents and then planting yourself somewhere between them. That is lowest common denominator politics - and it gets you nowhere. Threat: Mr Cameron has insisted that he would not respond to the growing Ukip threat by adopting a string of new Right-wing policies The right thing to do is to address the things people care about. It's not about being Left-wing or Right-wing - it's about being where the British people are. And where the British people, rightly, are on all these issues is where the Conservative Party is, too. Despite his comments, ministers signalled initiatives that appeared designed to appeal directly to disaffected Tory voters, with a pledge to scrap the controversial Human Rights Act and to tackle health tourism. Budget: Senior Conservatives last night urged George Osborne to 'change direction' in this month's Budget Tory MP Mark Field said the conflicting messages showed there was "incoherence at the top." He said: "We're saying one thing and thinking we can somehow convince the voters, yet actually the voters are not fools." It was "taken as read" that Tory rebels plotting a challenge against Mr Cameron would hold their own post-mortem of the disastrous Eastleigh result. He added: "If the Coalition doesn't last and if we are back in opposition in 2015, then clearly there will need to be a fundamental change of direction of where the Conservative Party goes." Asked if the Tories were moving closer to losing power, he said: "It's going to be 2015 - I am under no illusions about that." Nick de Bois, secretary of the backbench 1922 Committee, accused Mr Cameron of pursuing a "flawed political strategy" by focusing on "divisive" issues, such as gay marriage, that alienate traditional voters. "The Government seems recently to have been focusing on what some have described as these rather metropolitan, elite, brand-conscious ideas, such as wind farms and whatever," he said. We need to be connecting and speaking directly to those people who are living in the very sharp and harsh real world. Ukip leader Nigel Farage said voters no longer believed Tory promises. "Their own supporters look at a Conservative Party that used to talk about wealth creation, low tax and enterprise and it now talks about gay marriage and wind farms," he said. A senior Liberal Democrat last night lashed out at Defence Secretary Philip Hammond's call for benefits to be slashed to spare the military from further cuts. Party president Tim Farron (pictured right) cited the £25billion plan to replace Britain's Trident nuclear weapons system as why it was "ludicrous" to suggest defence spending should be protected at the expense of benefit claimants. Mr Hammond said at the weekend that the Ministry of Defence could not absorb further cuts in the spending review planned for 2015-6 without "eroding military capability." He said a number of Tory Cabinet ministers believed "that we have to look at the welfare budget again... if we are going to get control of public spending on a sustainable basis." Mr Farron said: "To think that it's more important to be investing money into Trident, or something like that, rather than protecting those people who are the least well-off in our society, that would be morally wrong as well as just economically stupid." David Cameron has made it clear he will not sanction a downgrading of Britain's Trident system. But, in a sign of fresh Coalition tensions over the issue, the Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable also said a decision to "scrap the Trident missiles... could make significant long-term savings" that could be released to pay for measures to boost growth. Seven people in ten believe Britain spends too much on overseas aid, a poll shows. Only 7 per cent believe David Cameron was right to pledge to increase aid spending further by 2015, the ITV ComRes poll found.