Cameron: Security strategy lacks clarity

Conservative leader David Cameron has expressed uncertainty about the government's ability to communicate its message in the national security strategy.

Launched today, the strategy outlines plans to address an increased number of threats to national security, including terrorism, climate change and nuclear proliferation.

Mr Cameron said the idea of a national security strategy was welcomed by the Conservative party because the need for such an approach was "clear".

He supported the idea of a standby civilian capability and welcomed the government's adoption of a cross-cutting manifesto for forces' families, which he had proposed at his party conference two years ago.

But he said Gordon Brown's statement "doesn't come across at all clearly" and regretted the prime minister's failure to inform the Commons "what he's going to change, why it would be difficult and the tenor of his approach".

He quoted sources inside Downing Street describing the "difficult birth" of the document and said it had only been completed after "indecisiveness at the top" and "some glorious Whitehall squabbling".

"It looks rather more like a list than a strategy," he added.