Cameron: I'm the man with a plan

The Tory leader branded Gordon Brown a "risk" too great to keep in power and claimed he was ready to lead the nation. "I'm a man with a plan, not a miracle cure," he said, warning that there were "no overnight transformations" on offer.

Mr Cameron's keynote speech to the Conservative party's Birmingham conference saw him decisively postpone income tax cuts until the economy was in better shape. Debt must fall first and then tax handouts for the low paid would take priority.

He also announced a full review by the shadow cabinet of every spending plan, aiming to find savings in time for a first Tory budget in more than 12 years.

In a highly personal speech, Mr Cameron hit back at Mr Brown's jibe that he was a novice, insisting he had the "character and judgment" to be Prime Minister.

Turning the tables, he said Britain could not afford the "risk" of keeping Mr Brown in office, because Labour borrowing and overspending were to blame for the severity of the economic crisis. "The risk is sticking with what you've got and hoping things will turn out better," he said.

"When you've taken the wrong road, you don't just keep going," he added. "You change direction - and that is what we need to do."

But he acknowledged that the economic crisis gripping the country had made people question whether the Conservatives were capable of taking office.

"I know how worried people are," he said. "They want to know whether our politics, and let's be frank, whether our politicians, are up to it."

He admitted: "You cannot prove you're ready to be Prime Minister - and it would be arrogant to pretend you can. The best you can do is tell people who you are and the way you work; how you make decisions and then live with them."

He compared Mr Brown with James Callaghan - another Labour chancellor who became Prime Minister but who presided over the 1979 Winter of Discontent.

"He had plenty of experience - but thank God we changed him for Margaret Thatcher," he said.

Mr Cameron devoted long passages of a lengthy speech to his personal values, highlighting his role as a father of three children, married to a successful businesswoman, Sam. He joked: "I admire entrepreneurs. I should do - I go to bed with one every night."

There were few policy announcements in an address crafted to win people's trust more than make "short term headlines".

He bleakly warned that tight public finances would leave no room for giveaways. Hairdressers, call centre workers on overtime and self-employed electricians were singled out as the typical targets of tax reductions when they could be afforded.

To them, he said: "I know it's your money. I know you want some of it back. And I want to give it to you. But we will only cut taxes once it's responsible to do so."

He empathised with families worried about losing their homes and jobs in the downturn.

"These are times of great anxiety," he said. "We understand the gravity of the situation our country is in."

After a unique conference record of making a speech every day in an effort to show he was on top of the economic situation, Mr Cameron went on: "The test of a political party is whether it can rise to the challenge of what the country requires and what the times demand. I believe we have passed that test this week."

Mr Cameron singled out the two Cabinet ministers seen as likely Labour successors to Mr Brown - Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Health Secretary Alan Johnson.

He accused Mr Miliband of "one of the most arrogant things I've heard a politician say" - when the minister said that without a strong government "you end up on your own".

He embarrassed Mr Johnson by reading out the minister's letter replying in bureaucrat-speak to a complaint that a woman died after receiving poor treatment in the NHS.