Baroness Warsi, co-chairman of the Conservative party, has defended the Conservatives performance in the Bradford West by-election where the Tory vote dropped by 22.7%.

She said that while the party's vote share "went down quite drastically", she maintained "when parties are in government they do not win by-elections, that's always been the case."

She added that it is historically a safe seat for Labour so the swing against Labour indicated that the party "lost it in spectacular fashion".

When pushed on the failings of the Conservative party, she admitted that it had been a difficult week, but refused to be drawn on it being down to the leadership being distant.

"We do not operate a sofa government," she said, adding that the party agrees policy with its coalition partners.

On the potential fuel strike, she said it would have been deeply irresponsible for the government to sit on its hands and while the language used could have been better... it was right to say to people that we need to be prepared.

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