THE former home secretary will criticise members of the Tory party for making "errors and mistakes" that cost the party dearly at the local elections.

Priti Patel is set to deliver a speech at the Conservative Democratic Organisation conference.

In her speech, seen by the BBC, she will say: "Errors and mistakes made by a minority in Westminster have cost [the] party dearly".

The MP for Witham is set to give advice to fellow members by saying if they were more involved with the grassroots of the party “they would be more in touch with the people and with our values".

"And perhaps if they did that, last week we would not have seen 1,000 of our friends and colleagues lose their seats in the local elections and dozens of councils fall out of Conservative control.

"Never again should the grassroots of our party be side-lined, neglected and ignored."

She also appeared to hit out at the current Prime Minister ahead of the meeting by saying the idea of giving Tory members a say was “very topical at the moment” after the party had lost “over 1,000 councillors in the last week – none of them have been reached out to, or have heard a mea culpa apology for the party”.

“Conservative Party aside, the party in its current form, the parliamentary party, seems to want to manage status quo and manage decline.”

She said: “If we carry on with managed decline there won’t be a future for conservative values and beliefs”.

The conference is being held in Bournemouth today and is backed by Tory peer and donor Lord Cruddas and organised by Brexiteer David Campbell Bannerman, with former cabinet ministers Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg all expected to be among the attendees.

The group was set up in the aftermath of Mr Johnson’s removal from office and amid anger at the installation of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister without membership approval.

The organisation has repeatedly insisted it is not focused on bringing back Mr Johnson, but speakers at the conference do include several of his most prominent backers.

The gathering, which includes a gala dinner, is described as being for “like-minded patriots who… want to save our party and our country”.

Mr Johnson is not expected to attend.