Cameron tells bankers: Adopt moral capitalism

In a stern lecture tonight at the Davos world economic summit, he will declare: "We must also stand up to business when the things that people value are at risk."

The Tory leader will praise the wealth-creating might of the free market but call for clear limits on the "global corporate juggernauts" responsible for the economic crisis.

"So it's time to place the market within a moral framework - even if that means standing up to companies who make life harder for parents and families," he will say.

"It's time to help create vibrant, local economies - even if that means standing in the way of the global corporate juggernauts."

In a scathing criticism of complex but instable banking practices, he will say: "Our financial system boasts people so bright they've created financial instruments beyond even their own understanding."

Mr Cameron aims to use the gathering of world leaders and financiers at the Swiss ski resort to present himself as a reformer who, in contrast to previous Conservatives, was ready to admit the markets get it wrong.

Gordon Brown, meanwhile, will use the summit to urge leaders to resist the temptation to put up trade barriers in response to the global slump.

His appeal for a fresh start to the stalled world trade talks comes amid fears that President Barack Obama could lead a retreat into protectionist policies. But after Mr Obama and his senior US economic advisers pulled out of the Davos talks, Chancellor Alistair Darling declared that he would no longer be going.

"It was decided that as a number of the people he was due to meet had pulled out, his time would be better spent doing other things," a spokesman said.

And with banks under fire for their role in causing the economic crisis, many leading financiers who normally attend have chosen to stay away.

The summit opened amid shock at the news that Japan's industrial output plunged 9.6 per cent last month.