David Davis has thrown down the gauntlet to party colleagues to end their self-absorption and begin articulating core Tory principals.

In an interview for The Sunday Telegraph, the Shadow Home Secretary said his party would be forever stuck in the mire if it obsessed endlessly about internal politics and questions of perpetual modernity.

Instead, he beseeched colleagues to make the case for “timeless Tory principles”, an apparent snub to those keen on emulating the renewal process the Labour party went through in the 1990s.

Although welcoming the ideas of those who wish to bring diversity to the party, he was cautious on the need to change for change’s sake.

“In discussing the nature of that change, we must first ask ourselves the right question: not ‘What must we do to win?’ but ‘What we must do for Britain?”‘ he wrote.

“If we aren’t interested in changing the way the country works, but only in chasing after an ebbing political tide, then we will earn nothing but ridicule.

“We are in danger of becoming too introspective. We will not deserve to be elected if we are more concerned with internal party politics than in improving the lives of the British people.”

He is hotly tipped to succeed Michael Howard, who is to stands down as leader at the end of the year.

The Haltemprice and Howden MP has called for unity among Tory MPs and is opposed to holding a potentially fractious leadership contest in the summer.