David Cameron has overseen the “Crosbyisation” of the Conservative Party, allowing it to return to its “nasty party” roots, according to Labour MP Angela Eagle.
The shadow Commons leader criticised the Tories for serving the interests of the rich over the British people.
She said the party’s guiding principles were those of its election strategist Lynton Crosby, who is also the founder of lobbying firm Crosby Textor.
Rather than solve problems, Mr Cameron has been causing havoc by exploiting the nation’s problems, Ms Eagle told an audience in east London.
Three years after Mr Cameron spoke out about fixing broken politics and restoring trust in the political system, Ms Eagle said: “The task of politics is to provide real answers to the problems Britain and the British public face.
“And today those problems are only too evident: wages squeezed, prices rising year on year on year, and a profound sense that for most hard-working families today, Britain is not working for them.
“The truth is that what we are seeing is the ‘Crosbyisation’ of the Conservative Party.
“David Cameron’s politics has now come down to trying to exploit the problems the country faces rather than solving them.”
She also criticised the Conservatives’ approach to immigration and the NHS.
On immigration, she said the Tory strategy is to “whip up fears with shameless ad vans being sent round the UK with ill-judged messages cynically designed to divide communities”.
On the NHS, she said: “The Tories have decided their job isn’t to run the NHS, it’s to run it down.”
Ms Eagle said both examples help to “reinforce the public’s negative view of the Conservative Party” as the “nasty party, out of touch with everyone but the very richest”.
She said Labour will back the Prime Minister on lobbying, however, on condition he agrees to take “the big money out of politics”.