PM 'misquoted' Tory policy position

He said Mr Brown had "completely misquoted" shadow chancellor George Osborne, and called on the British public to "judge people in politics by how they behave".

In a wide-ranging interview to be broadcast on Sky News, Mr Cameron also said the Prime Minister had "thumped the poor" with his decision to abolish the 10p tax rate, and defended his perceived lack of experience and willingness to open his family life up to the media.

Mr Cameron was asked about a remark made by Mr Osborne on the "short-selling" of shares by hedge funds, which was suspended to prevent some companies from going to the wall.

The shadow chancellor had said: "It isn't pleasant to watch people making loads of money out of the misery of others but that is a function of financial markets."

But in his crucial speech to Labour delegates on Tuesday, Mr Brown said: "Do you know what their shadow chancellor really said? In the week that banks were collapsing, the man who wants to run our economy not only said this is not a problem caused by the financial markets, but went on to say and, I quote, that it's 'a function of financial markets' that people make 'loads of money out of the misery of others'."

Mr Brown also summarised a range of Conservative policy positions, saying: "Just imagine where we'd be if they'd been in a position to implement their beliefs - no rescue of Northern Rock, no action on speculation, no protection for mortgages, doing nothing to stop banks going under".

This provoked an angry response from Mr Cameron, who said it was "remarkable" that Mr Brown had misquoted Mr Osborne. "People do things in markets that we can disapprove of and that is what George is saying," Mr Cameron said. "He disapproves of those things."

He added: "I think it is so important that we recognise that the Prime Minister in his conference speech, speaking about a really important subject, this enormous crisis we face, said the Conservatives opposed the stops on short selling which is completely untrue, he said that the Conservatives wanted to abolish regulation of the mortgage market, completely untrue, and then had the gall to read out half a quote and pretend that George had said something completely different."

"You know, you have got to judge people in politics by how they behave and what they do and in my view and I would have thought in most people's view that is completely unacceptable behaviour."