Cameron to reject "novice" charge

By Tim Castle

BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) - David Cameron will on Wednesday rebut Prime Minister Gordon Brown's assertion he lacks the experience to lead Britain through the financial crisis.

The 41-year-old Conservative leader will say character and judgement are more important for dealing with the impact of the credit crunch when he closes his party conference in Birmingham with a speech answering Brown's jibe that he is a "novice."

"Experience is the argument of the incumbent over the ages," Cameron will say according to extracts of his speech released in advance.

"Experience is what they always say when they try to stop change."

Aides said Cameron had extensively rewritten his speech following U.S. lawmakers' shock rejection of a $700 billion (388 billion pound) bank bailout on Monday and the nationalisation of mortgage bank Bradford & Bingley earlier the same day.

The violent market reaction and fears of an even greater storm washing through the financial system have knocked the Conservative conference from the headlines.

Cameron has been forced to adopt a statesmanlike position, saying that the banking crisis was not the place for partisan politics.

On Tuesday Cameron said his party would help speed the adoption of legislation confirming the Bank of England's power to rescue banks, by dropping a minor objection that could have delayed its passage through Parliament.