Francis Maude

The Conservative chairman has defended David Cameron's decision to pull out of the centre-right grouping in the European parliament.

In an interview with ePolitix.com, Francis Maude rejects criticism of the controversial decision to abandon the European People's Party, a move that risks alienating traditional Tory allies on the continent.

The former shadow foreign secretary also suggested that Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson's attack on Cameron's environmental credentials was motivated by her unhappiness at the EPP decision.

Jackson said recently that Cameron, who is set to embark on a three day trip to a Norwegian glacier to highlight global warning, is "all talk and no action" on environmental issues.

Maude told this website: "I think Caroline has her views and she is one of the MEPs who is very bothered about the decision to leave the EPP, that's fair enough, but I think that it is probably in that context that she made those comments about the environment."

Other critics suggest the Conservatives are now trying to form a new grouping with fringe right-wing parties, a move that makes Cameron's statement that UK Independence Party members are a "bunch of fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" seem hypocritical.

It is a charge Maude strongly refutes.

Asked whether the decision to leave the EPP and form another group is compatible with Cameron's statement about UKIP, Maude said: "Yes it is compatible. We want to create a new grouping of parties that take what we would call a more progressive approach to the European Union and who do not see it as an ever more centralised block which is what it currently is.

"The European constitution moves even further towards that model and that is why we think the right thing to do is form a new grouping which will be very formidable."