Tories attending the annual party conference in Blackpool today joined in giving three cheers for Norfolk farmer Tony Martin, who shot and killed a burglar.
The cheers were led by IT consultant Mr Tim Metcalfe, who won an ovation at the party conference when he called for the return of hanging.
Mr Metcalfe, from Weetwood, Leeds, said: "Let us show the country that we really do mean business on crime by showing our support for Tony Martin."
Party activists joined enthusiastically in shouting "hip, hip hooray" in backing for the convicted farmer, who was released recently from prison.
In his speech, during the law and order debate, Mr Metcalfe, who hopes to become an MP at the next election, said the way to combat crime was to make it not worth the price.
"Make prison a genuine punishment, bring back solitary confinement, take away their TVs and snooker tables and let them earn privileges.
"Bring back birching for young tearaways that terrorise council estates and vandalise graveyards, castrate paedophiles and bring back hanging.
He said crime went unpunished at the moment and prison, with its "relaxed regime" and drugs, was no deterrent.
"The only people imprisoned these days are decent ordinary hard working people who feel trapped in their own homes, many of whom live with bars on their windows.
"An Englishman's home is no longer his castle it's his prison."
Mr Metcalfe said police numbers had been rising but so had crime and warned that the party was living in "cloud cuckoo land" if it believed that more police would reduce crime.
He said he was "sick and tired of hearing about the rights of the thug," and demanded: "What about my rights as a decent honest hard working Englishman.
"We are supposed to be the party of law and order. Let's prove that to the ordinary man and woman in the street. Let's take some risks and stop trying to be the Liberal party. If we do that, we will win the next election.
PA