Kenneth Clarke has accused Iain Duncan Smith of pursuing a policy that would mean withdrawal from the European Union.

Speaking at a lunch in London, the former Conservative chancellor said the party leader wanted to reduce the EU to a "free trade area and little more".

Clarke added that Iain Duncan Smith's European position was "in flat contradiction" to everything the Tories had stood for when in government.

Two hours later in Prague, Duncan Smith called for a "democratic revolution" to achieve his vision of a "new Europe" of national democracies and not of "soulless supranational institutions".

Meanwhile, Gordon Brown told the Commons yesterday that the aim of the Conservatives was a "semi detached" membership of the EU.