Women voters turn to Cameron

He lashed out at the 'weak and indecisive' Prime Minister for backing down from an autumn general election and accused him of 'treating the British people like fools'.

His comments came as mounting evidence showed Mr Cameron had dramatically reversed his party's fortunes.

Conservative grandees praised Mr Cameron for masterminding a fightback capped by his triumphant unscripted 67-minute party conference speech.

In the space of a fortnight, he has clawed back - and then overtaken - Labour's seemingly unassailable 11-point lead.

Crucially, the Tories have successfully wooed back 'Worcester Woman' - seen by pollsters as the stereotypical Middle England voter whose support for Tony Blair helped him seize power in 1997.

She has been won over by popular pledges including cuts to stamp duty and inheritance tax, as well as family-friendly policies and pledges to get tough on crime. In one poll, Mr Cameron had a six-point lead among women, whereas a week ago he trailed by 16 points.

In an interview on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Cameron said the Prime Minister's decision not to call a snap general election would 'rebound on him very badly'.

He added: "I think people sitting at home will think, 'He's just not being straight with me, he's treating the British people like fools'. Everybody knows he is not having an election because he thinks there is a chance of losing it."

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Shadow Chancellor George Osborne accused Mr Brown of being a 'bottler'.

He said: "The Labour Party promised us at the last election that Tony Blair would serve the full term and then there would be an election.

"Well, Tony Blair's gone, the new guy's in charge, he's been there for a while now. He's deliberately stoked up speculation about an election and now he's gone and bottled it."

Michael Ancram, the former deputy Tory leader who accused Mr Cameron of 'trashing' Margaret Thatcher's legacy, said the party was 'stronger than ever'.

He added: "The Conservative Party under David Cameron came together at conference and set out clearly and very effectively what the party believes in."

The bullish comments echoed the findings of three opinion polls held in the wake of the Conservatives' triumphant conference in Blackpool last week.

A YouGov poll for the Sunday Times showed Mr Cameron had opened up a three-point lead on Labour - 41 per cent to 38 - with the Liberal Democrats on just 11.

A BPIX poll for the Mail on Sunday showed the Tories with a one-point lead on 39 per cent. The Lib Dems had 12 per cent.

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But most strikingly, an ICM poll for the News Of The World showed that in the 83 key Labour-Tory marginals Mr Cameron held a 6 per cent lead.

If this were translated to a general election, 49 Labour MPs - including Home Secretary Jacqui Smith - would lose their seats.

Although Labour would still be the biggest party in the Commons, with 306 MPs, Mr Brown would be forced to wrestle for control of a hung Parliament.

According to the Mail on Sunday's survey, the Tory leader's decision to put tax cuts in the spotlight and play down his green agenda has paid dividends.

More than 70 per cent support the plan to raise the inheritance tax threshhold to £1million. And four out of five voters welcomed the promise to help firsttime buyers by abolishing stamp duty on homes worth up to £250,000.

The Tories are way ahead on tax, with a popularity rating of 40 per cent compared with Labour's 23. And while Labour remains ahead on schools and health, the Tories are closing the gap.

Mr Brown also leads on his traditional strong hand of the economy - by 34 points to 26.

The Tories promised to keep up their attack on Labour over the forthcoming weeks.

An insider said more policy announcements 'could not be ruled out' but added that the priority was to convince the public the Government was 'failing Britain'. The source added: "We will continue to drum home the message that Gordon Brown is an outdated politician, that it is time for a change, and that without one, things are going to get worse."