By Ollie Stone-Lee BBC News Online politics staff

Sir Malcolm says the whole Tory team must be sold to voters

The Conservatives can now play the unity card against Labour as a key reason why they will deliver better schools and hospitals, according to former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind.

The comments come from a cabinet minister who lost his own seat in Parliament as his divided party crashed to a landslide election defeat in 1997.

In an interview with BBC News Online, Sir Malcolm said Tony Blair's government has already lost voters' confidence and argues that the Conservatives, while making progress, still have "some way to go" to become a credible alternative.

He backed Iain Duncan Smith's strategy for returning the Conservatives to power but says the Tory leader has to sell the credentials of his whole team, not just his own qualities as a potential premier.

Creme de la creme

Sir Malcolm said Mr Duncan Smith has recognised the party has to appeal beyond its traditional support and engage with the issues which affect the vast majority of voters.

So what tactics should the Tory helmsman need to do to shore up the strategy?

"I think he has to really continue the policy that is being pursued at the present time, but he's got to have the visible support of as wide a spectrum of Conservatives as possible," said Sir Malcolm.

The Conservative Party believes in these reforms - unlike the Labour Party Sir Malcolm Rifkind

"It can't just be the leadership of one person, however excellent that leadership may be. A political party will appeal to the public if it is seen to represent the cream of political ability and talent at any given time.

"And I believe the Conservative Party has a lot of people whose talent could be used and that is something which I know Mr Duncan Smith also wants to do."

Voters are being asked to choose the government, not just the prime minister, he stressed.

"For a government to lose power requires two things to happen," he went on.

"First of all the existing government to lose the confidence of the public - that has already happened. I think Mr Blair is now suffering from a serious loss of authority and disillusion with his leadership.

"It also requires there to be a credible alternative government and that is beginning to happen but we've still got some way to go."

Blair's party problem

The Tories continue to unveil their policy thinking but some commentators have suggested the party has yet to convey a clear narrative about modern Conservatism.

As eyes are raised towards the next election, Sir Malcolm has his own ideas.

The public is ready for a step change on public services, says Rifkind

"First of all, that the Conservative Party may be faced with a prime minister who speaks in the language of low taxation and privatisation and so forth.

"But he cannot deliver because as we have seen in the past few months every time the prime minister tries to initiate public sector reform, he is thwarted by his own party.

"If the public wants to see necessary reform through the public services to make them more meaningful and sensitive to public needs, then they need a government where the government can get its legislation through because it will have the natural support of its own followers.

"The Conservative Party believes in these reforms - unlike the Labour Party."

Europe splits

Sir Malcolm says the opinion polls suggest the public for the first time in many years see Labour as much more divided than any other party.

And while there are Conservative differences over Europe, "the people who take a different view are in such a tiny minority that it no longer has an impact on the wider issues of the day".

"Nobody I'm aware of in the Conservative party disagrees with the requirement to involve the private sector more widely, to decentralise power, to break up some of the huge state monopolies which exist."

Such policies could require a step change in public thinking but Sir Malcolm believes the public is more willing than ever before to accept the need for such change.

'Character reference'

Sir Malcolm, who has held both the foreign and defence briefs in Tory cabinets, had many more reservations than his party's leaders in the run-up to the Iraq war.

He argued the continued failure to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq - something which has surprised him - is a real threat to the prime minister's credibility and authority.

What he has found most disturbing about evidence from the Hutton inquiry, apart from Dr David Kelly's problems, has been the way in which he says the government has used the intelligence agencies in order to give the government a "character reference".

The episode has damaged the position of the intelligence agencies, who are "frustrated" the privacy needed for their work has been compromised, he suggested.

The ex-minister might be frustrated himself that Conservatives in Windsor thwarted his latest attempt to offer his talents to frontline politics when they refused even to interview him as their potential candidate.

But on his personal plans he is keeping tight-lipped.