Parents who pretend that they have Christian beliefs in order to win places in church schools are doing the best for their children, David Cameron believes.

The Tory leader refuses to criticise the “middle-class parents with sharp elbows”. Asked for his views on the families accused of playing the system, he says: “I think it’s good for parents who want the best for their kids. I don’t blame anyone who tries to get their children into a good school. Most people are doing so because it has an ethos and culture. I believe in active citizens.”

Mr Cameron will learn this year whether his own daughter has won a place at a state-funded Church of England school in Kensington, West London.

This month The Times reported a surge in late baptisms into the Catholic Church, further evidence that some parents may be finding religion at a convenient moment in their children’s education. Fears that middle-class parents are adopting religion to get their children into popular schools have led some Labour MPs to call for an end to the expansion of faith schools.

Mr Cameron’s remarks come in the course of an interview in which he accuses Gordon Brown of playing politics with the anti-terrorism laws and leaving Britain unfit to face economic hard times ahead.

In his most withering attack since Mr Brown entered No 10, Mr Cameron savages the Prime Minister’s leadership, charges him with failing to give his colleagues credit and calls him “that strange man in Downing Street”.

He suggests that Mr Brown is suffering from “tall poppy syndrome”. But his most serious charge is that the Prime Minister is putting Labour’s party interests before those of the nation.

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