Lord Saatchi today condemned the Conservative party's "Fawlty-esque" election campaign and set out his own four-part test for choosing the next Tory leader.

The former Conservative Party chairman, who stepped down last month, accused his party of treating the public as "morons", and blamed himself for the "multitude of errors" that led to the Conservative election defeat.

His trenchant views are set out in a pamphlet published this morning by a right-wing think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies. In it, Lord Saatchi complains of the lack of idealism in the Conservative party and the turbulence of having five leaders in eight years.

"This arises from the mistaken premise that the public, being moronic, can only appreciate a message if it is delivered by Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt," writes Lord Saatchi in If this is Conservatism, I am a Conservative.

He adds that the Conservatives made a mistake in focusing on immigration and ended up fighting a "Basil Fawlty election - don't mention the economy".

In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Lord Saatchi went further, claiming the party was suffering from a lack of purpose and any unifying vision.

"In all forms of competitive human activity, a clear sense of purpose is a prerequisite for success," he said.

"General elections are in my view intellectual battles the winner is the one with the best arguments, not the prettiest face."

He said that New Labour had become economically competent, and in so doing had stolen the chief plank of the Conservative party's policy agenda. "The resulting branch of Conservatism known as pragmatism has killed Tory idealism and the victim is the modern Conservative Party," he said.

"Marxist socialism claimed human dignity for the left. My aim ... is to recapture those words, human dignity, for Conservatism. By doing so, I hope to allow the romantic to feel at home in Conservative company, which might otherwise seem too hard-headed for his or her taste."

As a result, Lord Saatchi said, he has devised a four-part test for candidates in the current party leadership race:

"There must be a noble purpose ... there must be a fight against injustice ... there must be a sense of direction ... and there must be a destination," said the peer, who designed Margaret Thatcher's famous 1979 election poster, "Britain isn't working."

Lord Saatchi called on Conservatives to assess the candidates on those four points and to: "Look into their eyes and you will immediately discover whether the candidate means it... or is simply giving you the results of a focus group research report."

Lord Saatchi has declined to say who he favours as the next leader of the party, calling all the candidates "good friends". But he said that through his test: "An answer will emerge to Tony Blair's devastating question, 'Who needs the Tories?'... We haven't really had an answer to that for many years."

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