William Hague has claimed that Gordon Brown defines the age of economic irresponsibility.
The shadow foreign secretary told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham that Brown had "blown it".
Calling for the party to do more to win over voters, he said they could provide "a "strong, united, positive alternative" to a "weak and washed-out government".
Britain had the biggest budget deficit in the developed world and the economy was now at a "standstill", he said.
The prime minister had his "chance and blown it - this is no time for no change", he added.
Hague told activists: "There must be no complacency. But there can be a quiet confidence that this week will show we are strong, united, positive alternative to that weak and washed-out government.
"We will not be sitting back and waiting for Labour to lose - for we will present instead the bold and radical ideas for changing Britain for the better."
He added: "When Gordon Brown talks of the age of irresponsibility, he is not the answer to the age of irresponsibility, he is the definition of the age of irresponsibility."
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