Cameron aide describes Tory grass roots as "swivel-eyed loons" David Cameron was under pressure on Saturday to identify and discipline a senior party figure who is said to have described local Tory members as "mad, swivel-eyed loons." The comments, said to have been made at a private dinner, were described as "an act of lunacy" by Tory rightwing MP Nick de Bois, since they inflame an already tense relationship between the prime minister and his party. Mr Cameron's decision to press ahead with legislation next week to allow gay marriages and his inability to deliver an immediate EU referendum has created an air of mistrust and acrimony in his party. Downing St let it be known on Friday that it was "dismayed" at the comments of Philip Hammond, defence secretary, who criticised Mr Cameron's handling of the same sex marriage issue. Mr Hammond is suspected in Tory circles of positioning himself for a future leadership bid by aligning himself with party activists, who tend to oppose gay marriage and are hostile to Europe and further defence cuts. The front page reports in The Times and the Daily Telegraph that a senior member of Mr Cameron's team holds the party's base in contempt have created a combustible mood ahead of next week's debates on gay marriage. The aide is alleged to have said claimed that 114 Tory Eurosceptics only voted last week to criticise the Queen's Speech - and its lack of an EU referendum bill - because they were bowing to pressure from local activists. "There's really no problem," the aide is quoted as saying. The MPs just have to do it because the associations tell them to, and the associations are all mad, swivel-eyed loons. The media is now engaged in a hunt for the author of the comments but Downing St has refused to comment. Read more