Tories 'to defend Blair's legacy'

With the ink still drying on the resignation of a front-bencher who would not toe the line on grammar schools, shadow chancellor George Osborne is to say that the party agrees with the current Prime Minister on the "essentials of the way forward" for public services.

By contrast, Mr Brown has "lurched to the left" and is now aligned with "unreconstructed elements" of Labour which want to place "roadblocks" in the way of reform.

Mr Osborne will tell an audience in London: "This growing consensus between the current Prime Minister and the Conservative Party does not appear to include the next Prime Minister.

"And therein lies the political battle ahead. For Gordon Brown rejects the very idea that there should be alternative providers of taxpayer-funded public services."

Mr Osborne will say he and David Cameron are committed to pushing forward Mr Blair's flagship city academies programme, and extending the "choice" agenda by giving parents more scope to decide which school their child attends.

"As the Prime Minister leaves office, there is agreement between him and ourselves on the essentials of the way forward - if not on the methods of achieving it," Mr Osborne is to say.

"We both agree that the country needs taxpayer-funded public services that are free at the point of access, and which are exposed to consumer choice.

"And we also both agree that this choice should include, with certain proscriptions, the ability to receive that service from an alternative provider."

The intervention comes after the Tories' Europe spokesman Graham Brady announced he was stepping down after receiving a severe reprimand for speaking out in favour of grammar schools.