Mr Cameron has ditched high profile Tory policies

Ex-Conservative chairman Lord Tebbit told BBC Question Time it was "dangerous for the democratic system" if the parties looked too similar.

Mr Cameron has ditched policies such as subsidising private healthcare and says he wants no more grammar schools.

Lord Tebbit said it was not yet clear how his strategy would work out.

But he said: "The danger for him is that that if he moves the Tory party on to this mythical central ground that he will finish in a dogfight with the Liberals and New Labour, all of whom would be saying things which were very similar to each other.