TORY Party membership has slumped to such lows that it’s now outnumbered by hippos, chimps and beluga whales, Labour revealed yesterday.

Speaking in Tory-free Manchester, shadow cabinet office minister Michael Dugher said the nasty party now has just 134,000 members.

And he pointed out the figure puts Tories among the world’s most endangered species.

He said: “Conservative Party members are now officially rarer in numbers than hippos, chimpanzees, beluga whales — apologies to Eric Pickles — Galapagos sea iguanas and something called the cloven-feathered dove, which, conference, I am told is a particularly rare type of pigeon.”

There was more bad news for the Tories, he told delegates once the laughter had died down.

Tory associations have seen their membership slashed by 70 per cent in key marginal seats over the past three years.

Mr Dugher said: “They are losing support in vital places like Hendon, Carlisle, Lincoln, Watford and Pudsey.

“The Tories are not a political party. They are not a movement like ours. They are a club — standing up for just a privileged few.”

The Barnsley MP suggested the slump is why Prime Minister David Cameron is dodging TV debates with Labour leader Ed Miliband.

He is now writing to Tory chairman Grant Shapps to challenge him to negotiations over a debate before the general election.

Labour’s Clacton by-election candidate Tim Young had a swipe at Ukip, saying that “Douglas Carswell and Nigel Farage are like the muppets — only they’re neither funny nor loveable.”

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