Policies of new Conservative leader

Britain's opposition Conservative Party chose David Cameron as its new leader yesterday. He avoided detailed policy pronouncements as he campaigned for the chance to challenge Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Here is what he has said he would do in government:

Tax and spending
Mr Cameron has said he would share the proceeds of economicgrowth between public spending increases and tax cuts.

Finance Minister Gordon Brown said he would rein in public spending increases to below the rate of economic expansion, which means Mr Cameron's blueprint could end up looking very similar to that of the ruling Labour party.

Mr Cameron played a major role in preparing his party's last election manifesto. It included only modest tax cuts and he has said they will only be trimmed when the economy can afford it.

He has also pledged to simplify the tax system which he says Mr Brown has overloaded with complicated credits and means-testing.

Europe
Mr Cameron has courted the eurosceptic rump of his party by suggesting he will withdraw the party from the mainstream centre-right EPP grouping in the European Parliament, which he sees as too integrationist.

He has called for a return of employment and social regulation powers to national control, the abandonment of any plan to create an EU constitution and to commit the bloc to enforce free trade and open markets.

Foreign affairs
The 39-year-old has promised to broaden his party's foreign policy horizons, stating it cannot just stand up for the people of Gibraltar and Zimbabwe but must also fight the cause of those in Darfur and poverty hotspots in sub-Saharan Africa.

Security/terrorism
Mr Blair suffered his first major defeat in Parliament last month over extending police powers to hold terrorism suspects without charge for up to 90 days.

Mr Cameron rejected that as too draconian but has called for dedicated border police and for telephone and e-mail intercept evidence to be admissible in court.

Education
Mr Cameron has indicated support for Mr Blair's planned reforms of education to give school heads and parents more power on admissions and teaching.

Opposed by many in Mr Blair's Labour Party, that raises the prospect that the Prime Minister will only pass a bill he has staked his reputation on with the support of the Conservatives - a highly uncomfortable position for the Prime Minister.

Parliament will vote on the bill in the first half of 2006.

'New politics'
That approach exemplifies a broader Cameron commitment to avoid the adversarial, name-calling style of politics which pollsters say turns voters off. He says he will back Mr Blair when he agrees with his ideas and suggest improvements rather than opt for blanket opposition.

Factbox - Cameron had privileged upbringing

Mr Cameron had a privileged upbringing. The son of a stockbroker, he was educated at Britain's exclusive Eton College school and Oxford University. He lives in London's fashionable Notting Hill area and enjoys the upper-class pursuits of riding and shooting. His wife, Samantha, is the daughter of a baronet.

Father of two, Mr Cameron's son Ivan, three, suffers from severe cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Caring for a disabled child has given him ample experience of public hospitals, he says. The couple have a daughter and are expecting a third child.

Mr Cameron has refused to answer questions about whether he took Class A drugs, a category which includes so-called recreational drugs like cocaine and heroin, in his university days. He has stuck to the argument that he is entitled to a private life before he entered politics.

Pitching himself as an everyday member of the public, who cycles to work, Mr Cameron says his favourite bands are The Smiths and Radiohead and that he voted in the hit TV talent show Pop Idol. His wife Samantha has a tattoo of a dolphin on her ankle.

Mr Cameron was special advisor to former Finance Minister Norman Lamont in 1992 and to outgoing party leader Michael Howard when he was home secretary. He worked as director of communications for broadcaster Carlton from 1994 to 2001 before winning a parliamentary seat for the constituency of Witney.