By Ollie Stone-Lee BBC News Online political staff in Blackpool

Former shadow minister John Bercow made the comments as he joined forces with former health secretary Stephen Dorrell to argue the party had to reconnect urgently with Britain's towns and cities.

Mr Bercow said there was "no political merit" in Tories talking generally about being a lower tax government and he questioned their flagship promise to scrap tuition fees.

His critical assessment of his party's opinion poll position was echoed by Mr Dorrell, who said Tory leaders' defence of their third place in the Brent East by-election was "not good enough".

Of the 130 MPs who represent Britain's 10 biggest cities, only 13 of them are Conservatives.

Such statistics prompted the two Tory MPs to try to address the problem at the Parliamentary's Mainstream's fringe debate: Conservatives in the Cities - an Urban Myth?

Honesty call

Mr Bercow, who resigned from the frontbench in November last year, said there had been a much-justified perception that the Tories were rural, provincial and "somewhat prissy".

Recent opinion polls had delivered a damning verdict on how people saw the party, he argued.

However strong the voters' desire to protest, they do not currently regard the Conservative Party as a viable vehicle for their protest Stephen Dorrell

"Although it might be comfortable to persuade ourselves that somehow the figures have significantly improved since 1997 or indeed since 2001, there is scant evidence to support any such proposition.

He said the party should be honest as he referred to some of the arguments put forward by Mr Duncan Smith and Conservative chairman Theresa May.

"People say we were 20 points behind, then we were 10 points behind and now we are level pegging ... but it's nonsense and nonsense on stilts," said Mr Bercow.

"The reality is that Labour support has greatly fallen, our support roughly where it was and the Liberal Democrats' greatly increased."

Tax priorities

Mr Duncan Smith says it is his "absolute plan" for a Tory government to cut taxes after the next election.

Mr Bercow said Tories obviously preferred lower taxes.

But he said: "I see no political merit whatsoever in generalised declarations of intentions to cut taxes which are not buttressed and vindicated by a clear of idea of how they are going to be financed."

Taxation was also low on the public's priorities, he said.

'Urgent'

Mr Bercow applauded Conservative proposals to offer state scholarships as part of their education policy and urged them to go further on such plans.

He also said the party should think carefully about scrapping tuition fees until it was sure it could do enough to provide vocational training for people who would never go to university.

Former cabinet minister Stephen Dorrell said the "obvious and urgent need" for Conservatives to rebuild support in urban areas had been reinforced by the Brent East result.

"The problem for the Conservative Party is that Brent East shows that however strong the voters' desire to protest, they do not currently regard the Conservative Party, the official Opposition in Britain, as a viable vehicle for their protest," he said.

"The defence that Brent was not natural Conservative territory I do not thing should be good enough for us. It was not natural Liberal territory either."

'Reconnect'

Mr Dorrell pointed to the lack of Tory MPs in many urban areas.

"We cannot expect to be regarded as a national party ready for government, the voice of protest and the voice of hope, the voice truly of One Nation if we are visibly cut off as a party from the great cities of our country," he continued.

Mr Dorrell said the party needed to reconnect with urban voters by showing it could offer them genuine choice in schools and healthcare.