John Redwood, the former Welsh secretary, said last night that he did not share the Tory leadership's current view that the party should concentrate on campaigning on public services rather than Europe.

Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Tory conference in Blackpool, Redwood said:"We need to win on the economy but I would not drop Europe. It has been our best card."

He went on to claim that by campaigning on public services, they would not "suddenly shoot up in the polls". His comments contradicted those of the party chairman, David Davis, who said the Tories must become "the party of the public services".

In a further attempt to regain voters' trust on public services, Damian Green, the party's education spokesman will tell conference today that "we should celebrate our teachers, instead of knocking them." Blaming teachers for the "huge problems" in schools is an "easy, lazy, dishonest approach" he will say.