Iain Duncan Smith has attacked plans to revise the BBC's political programming.

His intervention came ahead of a meeting of the corporation's board of governors today.

In a speech last night, the Conservative leader accused the BBC of delivering a "counsel of despair" in its proposals for parliamentary coverage.

"Of course we must all play our part to make politics more relevant to people's lives; both politicians and those who report on politics," said the Tory leader.

"And we must recognise that our conduct and tone and language and our arguments need to engage voters rather than to turn them off.

"But if you take politicians out of politics, you bring the entire democratic process into question. This can only benefit those who have power at the expense of those that don't."

In a statement issued last night, the corporation said Duncan Smith had been "badly misinformed" in his remarks.

"There are absolutely no plans to downgrade our political coverage - and there never have been. The BBC is also developing additional plans, in the face of growing apathy in some sections of the electorate, to attract new viewers to political programming and the democratic process," it read.

The Labour MP Harry Barnes, who launched a Commons motion against the "dumbing down" of the BBC's coverage, is claiming victory over the corporation's boss, Greg Dyke.

"The BBC has been stung into action by my cross-party Commons motion on its political coverage. The BBC director general has written to assure me that 'the BBC has no intention of reducing the amount of time it devotes to covering politics across BBC One and Two' and 'will certainly not be dumbing down its output'," he said.

"Mr Dyke also reveals that the results of an internal BBC review will go before the governors in the Autumn.

"I had understood that this was to be finalised this week and I hope that the extra time will enable all those who are concerned at changes in the BBC's political coverage."

Earlier this year the BBC's chairman, Gavyn Davis, said there would be no "dumbing down" of political shows.

"I can reassure you immediately - no-one at the BBC has any desire to reduce or 'dumb down' our political coverage and this will not happen," he wrote in a letter party chiefs Charles Clarke and David Davis.