The Conservatives will aim to answer their critics by unveiling 25 policy initiatives at their party conference.

Iain Duncan Smith is hoping that his mini-manifesto, "Leadership with a purpose", will become as important a document as Margaret Thatcher's "The right approach", published in 1976 and shaping the direction of her 1979 government.

The policy blueprint will focus on five key areas: education; crime; health; savings, and; rolling back the state in local communities.

Key ideas already trailed include including setting up foundation hospitals across the NHS and "state scholarships" allowing parents to spend public education money earmarked for their child as they wish.