Cameron vows to fix "broken politics"

By Tim Castle

GATESHEAD (Reuters) - Conservative Leader David Cameron pledged on Saturday to rid Westminster of the whiff of sleaze that was turning the public against politicians.

"Let's be clear what they think of us: 'You lie and you spin, you fiddle your expenses and you break your promises'", he told activists at the party's spring conference in Gateshead.

"This isn't a mood. It cuts really deep. And we have to respond."

Gearing up party activists ahead of local elections in May, Cameron said the Conservatives had to win back the trust of voters who had grown cynical about politics.

"We will have to fight the real enemy. Not only Gordon Brown, but the cynicism, the apathy and disengagement that has left people so exasperated with government, politics and the whole Westminster merry-go-round."

Cameron has already ordered his front bench to disclose details of how they spend their allowances and which relatives they employ.

The move followed Cameron's expulsion of Tory MP Derek Conway from the parliamentary party following the disclosure he used taxpayers' money to pay a son for work he apparently never did.

"Let's not pretend that we're outsiders to Westminster come to clean things up. We've been part of the problem and we need to sort it out from within," Cameron said.