Cameron hits out at 'weak, tragic' Brown

DAVID CAMERON has fired the opening shots in his battle with Gordon Brown on the eve of the Conservative party conference, branding the Chancellor as weak, tragic and totally lacking in credibility.

In a highly personal attack, the Tory leader accused the Chancellor of indulging in laughable behaviour over the past few weeks as he has tried to present himself as the next Labour leader and future Prime Minister.

Cameron's unprecedented criticism saw him open up a new front against Brown, the odds-on favourite to succeed Tony Blair, and helped define the new political battleground ahead of the next general election.

Cameron said he had been surprised by the Chancellor's conduct at the Labour conference in Manchester where divisions over the leadership burst into the open. "It just makes me laugh," the Conservative leader said.

In an interview, Cameron also risked a confrontation with right-wingers in his own party by slapping down senior MPs, including members of his own team, who are calling for tax cuts.

Complaining that Brown was being "pushed around by everyone", Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph: "He's been told he needs to look more modern so he tells us he likes the Arctic Monkeys. Incredible.

"He's told he looks too Scottish so he tells us he likes Gazza's goal against Scotland. Utterly incredible.

"He's told you're plotting too much and you look like a schemer so he says Tony's always going to be my friend. Completely incredible.

"If you're pushed around this much before you've even applied for the job, what are you going to be like as Prime Minister. It just makes me laugh. People tend to think of Gordon Brown as strong but he's just being pushed all over the place.

"I think his credibility has been damaged. I've made all sorts of mistakes but I haven't done or said anything that I don't feel 100% comfortable about and I observe what he has been doing and saying and I just find it all totally incredible."

Cameron launched his assault on the Chancellor as he faced his own showdown with senior Tories, as a group of traditionalists prepare to demand tax cuts worth billions of pounds a year if the party wins the next general election.

A powerful group of right-wing MPs led by former Cabinet minister John Redwood threatens to spoil Cameron's first party conference as Conservative leader with a dramatic demand for a slew of cuts, in a package putting the 'moral case' for lower taxes.

Cameron has consistently rejected a return to traditional Tory promises of tax cuts in the run-up to the election, insisting that the nation's finances could not afford any 'giveaways'. He will tell conference delegates today the nation's priorities have changed since Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.

But the Thatcherite No Turning Back group's pamphlet includes demands for cuts in income and corporation tax, the abolition of capital gains tax, a steep rise in the threshold for inheritance tax and even hinting that petrol tax should be abolished altogether, Scotland on Sunday can reveal.

The striking package will be unveiled on Tuesday, to coincide with the party's discussion of the economy at the conference in Bournemouth. Tory leaders are already facing the embarrassment of calls for cuts worth almost £20bn a year from an independent commission set up by Cameron to review party policy.

The uncomfortable challenges to Cameron's 'policy-free' conference come as a new opinion poll revealed his seven-point lead over Labour has evaporated within a month - with many voters complaining they want a better idea of his plans for the nation.

Tory officials last night insisted the party would not present detailed policy ideas until next summer at the earliest, when commissions into every area of government business report back to the leader.