Tory claims to be the new workers’ party representing the “strivers” are looking pretty weak after the tax credits clash.

Having been inside the “ring of steel” at the Conservative conference in Manchester, this doesn’t feel surprising.

To be honest, it isn’t much of a surprise to anyone who has basic human attributes like eyes or ears.

Even the “liberal” wing of the Tories seem half-hearted in their gestures towards hard-working people — beyond, that is, the endless repetition of the phrase “hard-working people.” You can’t buy kids’ clothes with just a cliche in your wallet, even from Peacocks or Matalan.

Take, for example, Bright Blue. It is a “pressure group for liberal conservatism” set up in 2013. The name is supposed to suggest it is clever and hopeful and Tory — rejected names presumably included “Dim Blue” and “Dark Blue.”

Bright Blue presses the argument that “the opportunity of becoming the true workers’ party is within the reach of the Conservatives.”

Bright Blue is well linked to the top of the Tories. It is run with the help of an advisory board of senior Conservatives — David Willetts, Francis Maude, Nick Boles, Margot James, Andrew Mitchell and so on.

It had loads of conference support from what it sees as the “liberal” wing of the Conservatives, with Michael Gove, Chris Grayling, Willetts and other leading Tories speaking at its fringe events.

The Bright Blue folk spent most of their time being total fanboys and fangirls of the Tory leaders, blurting out how exciting it is to be in a room “with Michael Gove who is just awesome” or declaring that David Cameron’s conference speech was “compassionate and optimistic” and showed that Cameron has returned “to his original passion — social reform.”

The Bright Blue Young Things scattered around a few warnings that the tax credit cuts made it harder for Tories to look “on the side of workers.”

They argued that the government must “phase in tax credit reforms” or “seek to compensate those affected” or “mitigate and palliate” the effects.

Actually arguing to be against — or even vote against — the tax credit cuts is far beyond the loyalty of the pet “liberals” inside the Tory Party. If this is the pro-worker wing of the Tories, it is no surprise that the anti-worker wing prevails.

Are “liberal” Conservatives just ineffectual, then? Inquiring journalists are generally advised to follow the money. Do that, and it seems Bright Blue is a reasonably effective method of transmission — just not for putting the workers’ case inside the bosses’ party.

Instead it acts as yet another way for big money to buy a place at the table.

Bright Blue hosted a whole host of corporations at the Conservative conference, giving it a platform to put its own demands for cash.

Britain has just signed up to a wildly expensive deal for nuclear power with France’s EDF energy. It is a completely barmy scheme, relying on loans from China. All of us will be paying for the overpriced deal through our energy bills.

Bright Blue hosted one meeting with EDF and another with the Nuclear Industry Association, giving their lobbyists the chance to argue why they should be given huge bundles of cash.

Bright Blue also hosted a meeting with Pearson on education, a company that is pushing for private education contracts around the world.

Privatising education is a particular enthusiasm of Bright Blue. In 2013 it published a book arguing that “for-profit state schools are an example of applying Conservative means — faith in markets and competition — to deliver progressive ends.”

Pressing the case for schools privatisation, the “modernisers” argued: “The idea that commercial activity rots children’s souls, regurgitated by the anti-capitalist political left, belongs in the Dark Ages.”

This is particularly worrying as Education Secretary Nicky Morgan — apparently she sees herself as one of the Tories liberal intellectuals — is the president of Bright Blue’s advisory board. Former education secretary Gove is also close to the group.

To show its environmental credentials Bright Blue held a meeting on “a cleaner, greener economy” — paid for by consumer goods multinational Unilever, which likes to boast about its commitment to recycling, although it also has a massive commitment to churning out packaging.

Bright Blue also had a late-night behind-closed-doors “invitation-only” meeting about “the future of work for those on low incomes” at the Conservative conference.

This caring-for-the-poor meeting was paid for by Provident Financial, a loans company specialising in high-interest loans to the poor.

Provident Financial isn’t seen as bad as some payday lenders, but it was still fined £100,000 by the Central Bank of Ireland when whistleblowers revealed it had broken rules on loans to low-income families by pushing top-up loans.

Provident Financial has also been caught by BBC’s Panorama pushing irresponsible loans. Its new online Satsuma Loans service has APRs of around 1,500 per cent.

So that’s how the “liberal” wing of the Tories cares for the poor, with some ineffectual flapping about tax credits, while hosting a behind-the-scenes meeting for a firm that profits from high-interest loans to the poor in the middle of Tory conference.

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CAMERON has responded to the defeat in the Lords on tax credits by getting his former minister Lord Strathclyde to “review” Lords’ powers after they overturned George Osborne’s attempt to slash tax credits.

The opposition said Cameron wants Strathclyde to be his bully, threatening the Lords because they helped the poor.

Lord Strathclyde is the perfect man to bully the poor and their friends, as he works so hard for the rich.

Since leaving government Strathclyde has a new job at the Battersea Power Station development — basically helping to build multimillion-pound London flats for oligarchs in part of London’s “social cleansing.”

Strathclyde also works for scandal-hit commodity firm Trafigura, City advisers PWC and choccy-maker Ferrero.