David Cameron denounced European leaders for “scurrying to Moscow to compete for favours” as he outlined his vision of a liberal conservative foreign policy that would help to spread democracy around the world.

The Conservative leader said that Britain still had a valuable international role to play despite Western democracies being undermined by their conduct in the war against terrorism.

Speaking in Islamabad at the end of four-day tour of Afghanistan and Pakistan, he insisted that he was no neoconservative, saying that democracy could be spread only by patient craftsmanship rather than down the barrel of a gun.

The keynote foreign policy speech came hours after the attempted assassination of Yousuf Raza Gilani, Pakistan's Prime Minister. Mr Cameron, who met Mr Gilani last night, said that the incident showed “how we must work together to defeat terrorism”.

He urged Pakistan to go after the Taleban and al-Qaeda. “We need you to bear down on extremists, including those madrassas that are indoctrinating and recruiting young people.”

Mr Cameron's tour of the region is designed to reinforce his credentials as an international statesman, and follows his visit to Georgia during its clash with Russia. On that trip he adopted a hawkish stance, and yesterday he defended it, saying that Moscow's decision to send troops into Georgia had “convinced its neighbours that they have plenty to fear”.

He saved some of his toughest language for European leaders, and took a swipe at the European treaty. “There must be no more scurrying of European leaders to Moscow to compete for Mr Putin's favours. This got us nowhere. And let's be clear, the EU does not need a new treaty to work out an agreed policy on Russia.”

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