Cameron hints at Con-Lib pact in move to oust Labour from power

David Cameron has appealed to Liberal Democrat supporters to help him oust Labour from power and declared that Gordon Brown cannot be trusted any more than Tony Blair.

The Tory leader, who is sending personal letters to 140,000 people who voted Liberal Democrat at the last general election, highlighted the common ground between the two main opposition parties in a speech yesterday. His move will fuel speculation that he is preparing the ground for a Con-Lib pact in the event of a hung parliament.

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Mr Cameron said: "Gordon Brown, and the philosophy which drives him, will only be defeated if Liberal and Conservative supporters rally behind an alternative government-in-waiting ...I believe that we need a new liberal Conservative consensus on our country."

Speaking in Bath, he launched an attack on Mr Brown as the "natural heir to Blair in the art of spin." As the Tories claimed they had discovered 40 new "stealth taxes" buried in the Budget, Mr Cameron said the "tax con" was the latest in a long line of deceptions from the Treasury.

Describing himself as a "liberal Conservative", he argued that despite historic differences, liberalism and conservatism depended on each other. "Without the Conservative stress on communal obligations and institutions, liberalism can become hollow individualism, a philosophy of selfishness which denies our loyalties to neighbourhood and nation. And without the liberal stress on individual freedom, Conservatism can become mere conformity, limiting creativity and progress," he said.

However, Mr Cameron claimed that leading Liberal Democrats were split between "Orange Book Liberals" who wanted to protest against Labour and "Brown Book Liberals" who wanted to join Mr Brown in a coalition government.

The Tories believe Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, is in the latter camp after he set tests for a Brown government in a recent speech without doing the same for a Tory goverment.

In a speech today, Sir Menzies will play down the prospects of a Con-Lib deal and question Mr Cameron's liberal credentials, describing him as "a politician who would say anything to win power".

Sir Menzies will say: "He does not understand the contradiction between these [two] philosophies. Being liberal is about more than sound bites and photo opportunities. It's about the decisions you take, not the phrases you craft. It's about policies, not posturing. Deeds, not words."