Iain Duncan Smith is to appeal to Conservative activists to fight Labour on education policy and classroom standards, as media attention has again focused on his party's tax and spending proposals.

"We need to return to civility in our classrooms and raise expectations among our pupils," Duncan Smith will say in a message recorded on DVD for Conservative association chairmen.

"From the new year we will be concentrating on education. Our nation's future depends on being able to teach our young people properly."

Rows over Tory tax and spending policy resurfaced at the weekend.

Ian interview with the Telegraph, Conservative Treasury spokesman, Howard Flight, suggested that members of the shadow cabinet had been asked to find ways to cut spending by up to a fifth in their respective departments.

A Central Office spokesman did not endorse the call for cuts, but said the party was "quite relaxed" about Flight's comments.

It came as party chairman Theresa May admitted that calls to increase the number of women and ethnic minority candidates was failing. A list of preferred candidates may be sent to constituency associations to improve the situation, she said.