Cameron lashes out at 'cynical' Brown's wooing of the Tories

In a statement sanctioned by the Conservative leader, party grandee Sir Malcolm Rifkind accused Mr Brown of 'dishonesty' and coming close to 'abusing' his position.

Sir Malcolm claimed Mr Brown's high-profile raid on three Tories this week was merely 'deeply cynical' party political point-scoring.

It followed another difficult day for Mr Cameron in which a major Tory donor announced he was quitting the party to advise the Prime Minister on the Amazonian rainforests.

There were reports that Johan Eliasch is also poised to withdraw a £2.6million loan from Mr Cameron, but Tory officials insisted there was no indication he wanted his money back.

The news came as Labour's biggest financial backer, Lord Sainsbury, yesterday announced he was donating £2million to the party. Mr Eliasch's decision to work for Mr Brown followed the poaching of Tory MPs Patrick Mercer and John Bercow as advisers to the Premier, although they remain in the Conservative Party.

Sir Malcolm said last night: 'As leader of the Labour Party, Gordon Brown is perfectly entitled to make any Labour appointments he sees fit.

'But as Prime Minister, making appointments to Government positions to score party political points is dangerously close to an abuse of the proper position of a Prime Minister.

'It is perfectly clear that his over-riding motivation in a number of recent appointments of both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats has not been the unique expertise of the individuals involved but the fact that they belong to a different political party.

'It is deeply cynical. Gordon Brown promised a new honesty in politics. We are not seeing it.'

Mr Cameron made an impassioned defence of his record yesterday and insisted he would not be forced to choose between traditional values and reforming the party.

He set out the three core principles of his 'compassionate conservatism' - family, responsibility, and opportunity.

'Forget about those on the Left who say I shouldn't talk about Europe, crime or lower taxes, or those on the Right who say I shouldn't talk about the NHS, the environment and well-being,' he said.

'That is a false choice and I will not make it.'

On crime, he promised to 'liberate' the police, punish criminals and strengthen society and families.

But he also reaffirmed his support for homosexual civil partnerships and promised to keep tackling softer issues such as climate change.

Mr Cameron's focus on environmental issues makes the 'defection' of Mr Eliasch all the more embarrassing.

The businessman resigned as Tory deputy treasurer earlier this week. He announced yesterday he was quitting the party to take up an advisory role to Mr Brown on clean energy and deforestation. Mr Eliasch said: 'There is a universal agreement climate change must be addressed. This is not a political party issue and therefore I shall not be a member of any political party during this important work.'

He lent the Tories £2.6million in March 2006 after the cash for peerages scandal erupted.

It enabled Tory chiefs to pay back loans made in secret by businessmen during the 2005 election without revealing their identities.