MAIDSTONE and Weald MP Ann Widdecombe has sounded a warning note to party activists not to get carried away by the mounting support behind Tory leadership favourite David Cameron.

Miss Widdecombe said she had not yet decided who to back in the final vote of party members but said she was cautious about supporting someone with so little experience.

The former minister switched support to Liam Fox in the second round after her initial favourite Ken Clarke dropped out.

"I am cautious. Four weeks ago, nobody had even considered this guy as a leader. He was considered a leader for the future but on the basis of one 15 minute conference speech.

If we were having a general election tomorrow, I would vote Cameron. But we are not. Whoever wins has to be capable of mounting a sustained attack on Blair and Brown for four long years and manage a party that has proved not easy to manage," the MP said.

She added: "I always said that I would support the most popular candidate so long as he was the most experienced. Now we have a situation where the most popular candidate is the least experienced - somebody who has been an MP for only four years who is being elected by people who were elected just a year ago. I need to be convinced he has the right policies."

Meanwhile, Ashford MP Damian Green, who is one of David Davis’ campaign team, said the next leader needed to be more than a media-friendly personality.

"We are coming to the end of the Blair era in politics so the idea that we need to find our own version of Tony Blair is just misguided. People have clearly got fed up with the Blair style of glitzy politics and will be looking for something different type at the next general election.

"Substance is going to be much more important and party members now have the chance for a genuine battle of ideas."

Faversham and Mid Kent MP Hugh Robertson, who is backing David Cameron, disagreed. "The policy debate is a bit of a red herring. There is a huge amount of evidence that our policies are not the problem but the people we use to present them. That must be the lesson we learn from our election defeats."

David Cameron had the public support of three Kent MPs: Sir John Stanley (Tonbridge and Malling); Adam Holloway (Gravesham) and Hugh Roberston. He is also thought to have got Michael Howard’s vote. David Davis was supported by Roger Gale (Thanet North); Julian Brazier (Canterbury); Damian Green (Ashford).