Tories 'still right-wing and unpleasant'

Sir Menzies Campbell has blasted the Conservatives, saying they are still a "right-wing and unpleasant" party.

In a strongly worded attack, the Liberal Democrat leader questioned whether the Conservatives, and David Cameron, had really changed in the space of less than a year.

Asked by ePolitix.com how the Liberal Democrats could distinguish themselves from Cameron's party, Sir Menzies said: "As an occasional Presbyterian I know that 'by thee works thou shall know them' is true.

"It's not what people say that matters it is what they do and how they vote.

"Who drafted the Conservative manifesto of 2005? It was David Cameron.

"And most people consider it to be one of the most right-wing, unpleasant documents since 1945 and I don't think the party has really changed. At its core it is still right -wing and unpleasant."

Sir Menzies also says that Cameron is offering the public nothing more than a change of management.

"What this government has done is to squeeze boundaries out of politics and along comes David Cameron and says: 'give me your education policy Mr Blair and I will manage it better than you.'

"And so you've got two parties essentially disputing about management."

Sir Menzies said the Lib Dems now offer a positive alternative to the other main parties.

"The difference which we can provide is that we are values and principles based and the task of the leadership now is to make sure those values have contemporary relevance," he told ePolitix.com.

"Not that the values have changed, or been abandoned or diluted but that these timeless values, that have certainly stood the test of time and critical judgement, that these values are given contemporary relevance.

"That's why I was saying in the leadership election, and I say now, that I want our party to be the party of ideas and I want people to be willing and able to indulge in fresh thinking."