'Cameron must use Queen's Speech to exploit weak, ungentlemanly Clegg', urges leading Tory #BringBackOurGirls #Entertain9jar via @myentertain9jar

A LEADING Tory backbencher today urged David Cameron to exploit Nick Clegg's political weakness and use Wednesday's Queen's Speech to force through electoral reform policies the Lib Dem leader had previously blocked.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg entered into coalition in 2010[AFP/Getty]

Mr Cameron should stop being gentlemanly with Nick Clegg, as he wasn't gentlemanly when he reneged on the boundary changes.

Douglas Carswell

Clacton MP Douglas Carswell believes the Prime Minister needs to stop being "gentlemanly" with Mr Clegg, and use the Lib Dem leader's dire poll ratings to ram through measures agreed in the coalition agreement.

Mr Carswell warned that if measures such as constituency boundary changes, reducing the number of MPs and instigating the public's 'right-to-recall' are not in Wednesday's Queen's Speech, Mr Cameron and his colleagues will risk looking like the self-serving pigs in the George Orwell classic Animal Farm.

The Lib Dems disastrous performance in last month's council and european elections have sparked question's over Mr Clegg's leadership, leaving him at his weakest position politically since becoming leader in 2007.

His desire for reforms to be expedited were today given the backing of the Electoral Reform Society, with a spokesman accusing politicians of using the proposals as "political footballs" and claiming a  real opportunity to help restore faith in the political class had been missed.

Mr Carswell said: "We have got to go forward, even if Nick Clegg is willing to renege on the coalition agreement.

"Mr Cameron should stop being gentlemanly with Nick Clegg, as he wasn't gentlemanly when he reneged on the boundary changes.

"He should be absolutely ruthless now.

"If Nick Clegg wants to put the final nail in the Lib Dem's coffin - then let him block it."

Conservative MP Douglas Carswell [TWITTER]

Political reform was one of the key tenets of the coalition agreement, and the original 2010 document - signed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg - promised "changes to our political system to make it far more transparent and accountable."

This included the ability for the public to force a by-election if their MP had been found to "have engaged in serious wrongdoing".

The agreement also vowed to investigate making the House of Lords a wholly or mainly elected chamber and providing money for "open primary" elections to select MP candidates.

Perhaps most dramatically, the coalition planned to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 by redrawing constituency boundaries.

This plan was blocked by Mr Clegg in 2012 in retaliation for Tory backbenchers refusing to back a crucial vote on House of Lords reform plans.

Mr Carswell said: "The coalition agreement promised a real right of recall so voters could hold politicians to account and make sure that the customers - in this case the voters - are king.

"They also promised to reduce the number of ministers and promised to reduce the size of the House of Commons.

"It's like Animal Farm, where at the end you couldn't tell the pigs from the men they had replaced.

"We are conservatives, we believe in choice and competition - we are on the side of the individual against the government."

The Electoral Reform Society, which wants to see the current first-past-the-post electoral system abolished as well as other changes, is "not holding out much hope" constitutional policies will be in Wednesday's Queen's Speech.

A spokesman said: "The government's record on political reform is pretty disappointing.

"There's a problem with political disengagement and we need reform at the institutional level.

"There's a real sense the current government has run out of steam to deal with this."