Tim Yeo will be under pressure to clarify his party's stance on tuition fees

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Yeo said it was too soon to comment on education plans under the Conservatives' new leadership.

The Conservatives have promised to scrap the controversial tuition fees paid by university students.

But there have been claims that this would leave universities underfunded.

Mr Yeo said that it would be "insulting" to students and their families to respond to speculation over his party's tuition fees policy when he had only been in his new job for less than 24 hours.

"We've got a couple of years to go before the next election, I want to sit down with my team, decide what our priorities are. I'm not making any comments about policy at all until I've had a chance to reflect on these important issues," said Mr Yeo.

Fees debate

But a party spokesperson said that it was expected that established "core" policies, developed under the previous leadership, would continue - but that over the longer-term, policy was always open to change.

Phil Willis says the Conservatives should "come clean" on their plans for tuition fees

The Liberal Democrats' education spokesperson, Phil Willis, said that Mr Yeo had failed to "come clean" on whether he supported the scrapping of fees.

"The Conservatives' commitment to abolish top-up fees was clearly shallow," said Mr Willis.

It had been suggested that the Conservative pledge to scrap tuition fees could come under review. University chiefs have been scathing about the financial implications of withdrawing fees - and there have been claims that it would sharply curb the expansion of university places.

But promising to scrap fees has been seen as a populist, outflanking move by the Conservatives, hitting the government in a policy area where it has struggled to get across its message.

'More influential'

Mr Yeo is taking charge of both education and health for the Conservatives and he rejected claims that this combining of responsibilities reflected a dilution of commitment to public services.

As a member of a smaller leadership team, Mr Yeo said he would have "a more influential role than health and education have previously had inside the shadow cabinet".

Mr Yeo, who replaces the outgoing shadow education secretary Damian Green, was previously shadow trade secretary, and has been associated with the party's so-called "socially-liberal" wing.

The MP for South Suffolk's political career has recovered from a setback during John Major's administration, when he was forced to resign as a minister over a "sleaze" scandal, in which he had fathered a child outside of his marriage.

Mr Yeo was educated in an independent school, Charterhouse, and at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

The shadow health and education team also includes a separate education spokesperson, Tim Collins.