The Conservative Party is to become the "party of the poor", its leader has claimed.

In a newspaper interview Iain Duncan Smith highlighted inner-city estates as his main focus.

"I believe that in the inner cities at the moment society is really being hollowed out from the inside, and it's quite frightening to think that in the 21st century Britain we have actually gone backwards in many senses," he told the Guardian.

"I want to be the party for the poor. Now, whether we are perceived by the people who are in that category as their party, that's by-the-by.

"My view is that we must do what's right, and I can't think that we could possibly preside over society heading in the direction it's heading at the moment."

However, Duncan Smith conceded that the Tories could face problems from their former public image.

"I think the problem in the past with the party was that we allowed ourselves to be pushed into a box that just got marked self-interest," he said, adding that the party must recognise "that it helps other people too."

Rather than redistributing wealth, Duncan Smith argued that "increasing the prosperity of people" while "giving them a way out of the style of life they are living" was key.