Cameron will work with PM on crisis

He was aiming to avoid a British repeat of the wrangling in Congress which blocked George Bush's 700 billion-dollar (£385bn) plan to rescue US banks.

In an emergency speech to the Tory conference in Birmingham, Mr Cameron offered his party's support for Government legislation to tackle the crisis and urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to speed it onto the statute books when the Commons returns on Monday.

He announced that he was dropping Tory objections to a key element of the Government's Banking Reform Bill to ensure it passes smoothly through Parliament.

A sombre-faced Mr Cameron won applause from activists as he told the conference: "Let us not allow the political wrangling that took place in America to happen here in our own country. In Britain we are all in this together, so in Britain let us stick together and together we will find a way through."

Tories stood ready to work with the Government to marshal public support for the far-reaching decisions which may have to be taken to avoid an escalation in the crisis, he said.

Comparing the current turmoil with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, he reminded delegates that it was not the crash itself which sparked the Great Depression, but the flawed policy response and the crisis in the banking system which followed it.

The Tory leader spoke by telephone with Mr Brown last night as the impact of the Congress vote became apparent, as did the Liberal Democrats' Nick Clegg. Chancellor Alistair Darling will speak to his Tory shadow George Osborne and Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable to discuss the way forward.

Mr Cameron made clear that he was not absolving the financial services industry from blame for the succession of crises which have rocked the system of global capitalism, and told the conference that "there will be a day of reckoning".

But he said the immediate need was to protect jobs, savings and mortgages by maintaining the stability of the financial system.