David Cameron flew to Rwanda last night determined to face down critics who want him to return the Tories to their home ground.

Senior allies waved aside as “gutless” an anonymous group of MPs who are said to have lodged a request that Mr Cameron should face a vote of no confidence. But internal unease at his modernising strategy deepened at the weekend as a poll confirmed that Gordon Brown had opened up a seven-point lead over the Conservatives.

The fallout from poorer than expected performances in last week’s by-elections has led to criticism from a growing number of Conservatives. Ann Widdecombe became the latest to call for a return to a more traditional Conservative agenda of crime and immigration.

The Tory leader insisted yesterday that he would not be deflected and challenged Mr Brown to hold an early general election. “What we are not going to do is retreat to the comfort zone. I made changes to the Conservative Party over the last 18 months for a very clear purpose – to get us back into the centre ground, to get us into a position where people would listen to what we were saying, where we were in touch with Britain as it is today, talking about the things people care about.” Asked on Sky News if he was worried about the prospect of an early election while Mr Brown was still enjoying a honeymoon in the polls, he said: “We are ready to go whenever he has the courage.”

“Go on and try . . . I am ready for the battle,” he added.

He also defended his flying visit to Africa where he is today to meet about 40 Conservative volunteers who are working on development projects, saying Britain has a “moral imperative” to help nations like Rwanda.

Mr Cameron is expected to welcome proposals from a Conservative policy group that include reducing the conditions imposed on developing countries in return for aid. In return those receiving aid should be forced to tell local people exactly how much is being given for each school, clinic or road.

His focus on international development will do little to reassure his parliamentary critics, at least two of whom are reported to have written to Sir Michael Spicer, chairman of the 1922 Committee, demanding a vote of no confidence. It takes 15 per cent of the Conservative parliamentary party – 29 MPs – to trigger a process that would effectively spell the end of Mr Cameron’s leadership.

Andrew Mitchell, the Shadow International Secretary, who has been leading the group of volunteers, defended Mr Cameron yesterday, saying: “I prefer to focus on the commitment of my parliamentary and party colleagues here in Rwanda rather than the gutless witterings of unnamed colleagues.”

Another member of the Shadow Cabinet awaiting the arrival of the party leader acknowledged that the dissent was genuine but urged his fellow Tory MPs not to become obsessed with “internal party machinations”.

David Mundell, Shadow Secretary for Scotland, said: “It’s real, but it’s the same people who have been grumbling for the last 20 years.” Speaking on his way to visit the Murambi genocide memorial, on the site where 50,000 people were murdered, he added: “Coming here shows just how irrelevant this sort of tearoom chat is. It’s about making a difference and deciding, ‘Are we capable of being a credible government?’.”

Although the band of critics – both named and anonymous – is small there are signs that Mr Cameron is growing concerned about his support within the parliamentary party. He has clamped down on Cornerstone, a group representing the Right, with frontbenchers being asked to leave. Meanwhile, Greg Barker and Michael Gove, two allies on the modernising wing, recently set up the Green Chip group, a body intended to widen Mr Cameron’s support among bacbenchers, particularly from the 2005 intake.

Business snubs Brown

— 75 per cent of company bosses in London think that the Tory leader would be better for the economy than the Prime Minister, who spent ten years in the Treasury as Chancellor

— Nearly half of the 1,000 business leaders polled said Gordon Brown should deal with Iraq first, while a quarter identified education and a fifth the health service as their priorities for the Government

— More than half criticised Mr Brown for taking advice from Sir Alan Sugar, the chairman of Amstrad and star of The Apprentice television series, and Stuart Rose, the chief executive of M&S. They said that the move was gimmicky and ineffective

— While Tony Blair has quickly found a new job, taking up a role as the Quartet’s representative in the Middle East, 48 per cent of company bosses said that they would not give him a job

Source: Leaders in London

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