The Conservative leader has said he would have cut short his Christmas holiday had he been prime minister.

In a controversial move, Michael Howard implicitly criticised Tony Blair for failing to return to Britain in response to the Asian tsunami disaster which struck on Boxing Day.

Tony Blair has come under fire from sections of the media and some relatives of victims for failing to come back from his family break on Egypt.

The Opposition had avoided attacking the government over the issue until Sunday when Howard said he would have made a different decision as the scale of the tragedy unfolded during the course of the week.

"That is up to him, isn't it? I think if I had been in his position I would have come back, other leaders have," the Tory leader said.

"But everybody has got to make their own decisions about this and do these things in their own way."

On Monday Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy also said that he would have come home and added that the government "has been playing catch up with public opinion" over the disaster which it is feared will cost hundreds of thousands of lives, including some Britons.

Both leaders angered deputy prime minister John Prescott and foreign secretary Jack Straw, who have taken charge of the UK response in consultation with Blair.

Straw said Blair had spoken to Prescott twice a day and regularly contacted other ministers as events unfolded.

"I have not seen a single suggestion of a single piece of action that the British government could and should have taken had Mr Blair come back which we have not in any event taken," he argued.

Meanwhile Prescott accused Howard of playing politics with the disaster.

"I think the real point is, what is Britain doing, are we working fast enough?" he said.

"And I think if you look at our response rate, with the first 24 hours, I think no country moved as fast as that."

Downing Street added that the prime minister Blair has also spoken by telephone to US president George W Bush, the UN secretary general Kofi Annan and EU leaders and met personally with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan while he has been away.