A Senior Tory has dismissed a documentary exposing Islamophobia in the party as a "hatchet job" by a "lefty hang out".
Channel 4’s Dispatches revealed a string of shocking examples of anti-Muslim hatred by party members.
A poll commissioned for the programme showed that more than half of Conservative members believe Islam is a threat to British life.
And the documentary showed how members who were being probed for anti-Muslim hatred were openly celebrating voting for Boris Johnson .
Andrew Sharpe, who is Chairman of the National Conservative Convention, dismissed the investigation by Channel 4's flagship investigative programme.
He said the hustings for Tory leader had been "very good" for the party's reputation.
He added: "This exercise is therefore helping to dispell some of the traditional media narrative about us and our party."
But he said that was "not true of all the old lefty hangouts some of them still insist on trying to do hatchet jobs on us as we say on Channel 4 on Monday".
He added: "And I note that recently the New York Times described us, would you believe, as a fanatical sect."
He was introducing the Tory leadership candidates to a hustings event in Maidstone in Kent.
