The battle is on for the centre ground: not between the Tories and Labour, but within the Conservative Party.

The argument this week about what the party should say about tax cuts has symbolised wider discontent about the direction in which David Cameron is leading the party.

Mr Cameron has explicitly raised his flag on the centre ground, “where you find the concerns, the hopes and the dreams of most people and families in this country”. He noted that, for too long, the party had talked about what “we cared about most, instead of talking about the things most people care about”. So “we were banging on about Europe”, obsessed about a handful more grammar schools, health opt-outs for a few and tax cuts.

For the Right, such talk is a trap. At present, the Right is rumbling, although not yet rebelling. But the rumbles have become louder. Lord Tebbit banged the drum for tax cuts yesterday, while, in a speech today, Edward Leigh, chairman of the Cornerstone Group of self-styled socially conservative MPs, will give warning of the risks of returning to the pre-Thatcher consensus. This could turn the party into a recruiting agent for the UK Independence Party. So the party should address public fears over immigraton, crime, Europe and tax cuts, and be less concerned with the environment.

A subtler criticism of the Cameron approach has come from Tim Montgomerie, editor of conservativehome.com, now a central online forum for party debate. He argues that Project Cameron is in danger of becoming almost as unbalanced as Michael Howard’s approach at the last election, in believing that the party has a choice between new issues such as the environment and old ones such as immigration. He argues that this is a false choice: that strict immigration controls are compatible with fighting global warming, and lower taxes with social justice.

Mr Montgomerie claims that “in the failure to talk about crime, immigration and tax alongside the gentler, greener messages, Team Cameron is not reaching the “Morrisons voter”. These are largely Midlands and northern-based, less affluent voters whose wage packets are the main victims of uncontrolled immigration and who are vulnerable both to Gordon Brown’s stealth taxes and to crime.

Of course, no party can ignore crime, immigration and Europe. What matters is how they are discussed. What has jarred in recent years has been the tone, the appearance of being anti-immigrant and anti-Europe. These viruses have not disappeared, as shown by the hissing on Sunday when a film about Tory leaders included a statement about Sir Edward Heath leading Britain into the common market.

Europe is still too often seen as a theological matter. There is a reluctance to treat issues on their merits and to appreciate the positive work of many Tory MEPs in pushing for liberalising, pro-market measures.

Mr Cameron is correct to try to broaden the party’s appeal away from the obsessions of some activists. But that cannot mean ignoring these issues.

The key test for the new leadership is not just what it says on the environment and the quality of life, but whether it addresses tax, immigration and Europe in a way that attracts, rather then repels, voters in the Centre.

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