DAVID DAVIS will not repeat the mistakes of previous Tory leaders by “swerving to the right” to cling on to core Conservative voters, he vowed last night.

The Shadow Home Secretary and David Cameron, the Shadow Education Secretary, will launch their leadership campaigns this morning, attempting to fire a lacklustre contest into life.

Both are determined to dent the early advances of Kenneth Clarke, whose camp was boosted by the decision to leave the choice of the next leader in the hands of party members.

The former Chancellor, capitalising on polls suggesting that he had become the activists’ favourite, unveiled a membership drive yesterday based on the claim that only he could return the Tories to power.

But Mr Davis, in an interview with The Times today, says that he is the unifying candidate and will not repeat the mistakes of previous leaders who have made promises to steer a centre course, but then retreated to the right.

“I know there will be hard times. But in my view, to shift your position to shore up your core vote is the one way to guarantee that you will lose the next election,” he said.

William Hague, Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard all began their leadership with claims of moderation, but ended up on the Right.

Leadership rivals say that Mr Davis is a rightwinger and a recent convert to moderate One Nation Conservatism, who will not stick it out.

Mr Davis, who is promising lower taxes and vouchers for education and health, said: “Many times the party has swerved to the left then hooked to the right. It does not work. It doesn’t persuade anyone that you believe what you are saying and does not make you a bold leader.”

He admits that one of the reasons why Mr Clarke is so popular is that he has stuck to his guns.

“There is a premium on politicians who are willing to tell the truth. Ken gets a lot of credit for that, although he has lost a bit of it recently on the euro.”

Mr Cameron, the modernising candidate, will launch his campaign under the banner “Change to win”. He will say that only radical party reform will persuade voters that the Conservatives can change the country for the better.

“Britain aches for new hope, fresh ideas and reform with results,” Mr Cameron will say. “A Conservative government can provide these things. But first we must be honest: we can only change our country if we dare to change our party.”

The main leadership contenders are hastily revising their campaign strategies after the party’s decision this week to keep existing rules for the contest, which give members the voting rights.

Next week’s conference in Blackpool offers the opportunity to meet hundreds of activists in a matter of days, and all five candidates will be touring the cocktail parties to meet as many members as possible.

Mr Davis, who is expecting to face Mr Clarke in the final run-off, plans to make his Eurosceptic views more prominent in the campaign to draw attention to the former Chancellor’s pro-European record. However, he cannot afford to upset his key moderate backers, so will have to tread carefully.

Mr Clarke will be hoping for more polls to suggest to rank- and-file members that he is the most popular Tory among ordinary voters, and so their best chance against Labour.

After the Tories’ decision that the 300,000-strong grassroots membership would continue to have the final say on the new leader, Mr Clarke said that only he could beat Labour.

“I believe that I am the only candidate with a serious chance of leading our party to victory,” he said at a campaign launch event in London. “My party has to make a decision: do we want to remain in opposition or are we going to get serious and pitch for government?”

Coral Bookmakers cut Mr Clarke’s odds to 2-1 and said he was likely to become the favourite today.

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