David Cameron came out fighting today, mocking Gordon Brown for a brand of “McPolitics” as polls showed that the new Prime Minister was winning voters back to Labour.

In his first interview since Tony Blair resigned, the Conservative leader told The Times that he did not underestimate Mr Brown but that he was unmoved by the frenetic start to his administration.

“There is nothing so far that Gordon Brown has said or done that has made the heart skip a beat. Most people will look at the Government and think it’s the same old faces in different places. I don’t think there’s going to be a sense of change,” Mr Cameron said. “He is always producing initiatives, quite gimmicky initiatives that die before they get anywhere. I think people are quite sick of this, the kind of McPolitics.”

Mr Cameron – who urged his fellow Tory MPs to their feet to give Tony Blair a standing ovation on Wednesday – said that it had been a response to his “incredible mastery” of the Commons. “When I saw this was a send-off I just stood up. I thought it was an appropriate send-off in a way. And I thought he was very good. His performance that Wednesday was extraordinary.”

Gordon Brown's Black Wednesday

The Northern Rock disaster has torn away any remaining credibility the Prime Minister had

BACKGROUND

• Sorry story tests Gordon to the limit

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By contrast, he said that he found Mr Brown’s style “depressing”. “You ask a question about how you can work together to solve the debt in the developing world, and ten minutes later he’s still stamping on your head.”

Mr Cameron said that he had responded to the defection of Quentin Davies as he imagined voters had. “It was the same when Shaun Woodward did it – as a member of the public my reaction is, ‘God, aren’t politicians dreadful?’.”

The Tory leader, who was accused by Mr Davies of following a “PR agenda”, said that the claim that Conservatives lacked substance would be “knocked away” in the coming weeks as the party unveiled a raft of policy announcements. He promised an “unremittingly positive agenda”.

A new poll showed a distinct “Brown bounce”. A Guardian/ ICM poll showed Labour at 39 per cent, a 4-point lead over the Conservatives. The Conservatives increased their share of the vote by 1 point to 35 per cent. The gain to Labour appears to be at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, who were down 3 points to 18 per cent, and other parties.

Another poll suggests that 54 per cent of voters believe that under Mr Cameron’s leadership it is no longer clear what the Conservative Party stands for. The Populus survey for the BBC2 programme The Daily Politics also found that just 36 per cent agreed that he has the strength and judgement to be a good Prime Minister. He will draw some comfort, however, from the other finding that 54 per cent believe that there is a real chance that the Tories can win the next election.

A YouGov survey in the Daily Telegraph shows Labour on 38 per cent, up 5 points from last month, and the Conservatives down 4 points to 35 per cent. The Lib Dems were unchanged on 15 per cent.

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