Cameron on global poverty mission

from the Guardian Unlimited

Press Association

David Cameron is flying into Rwanda ahead of the launch of a Tory strategy to tackle global poverty.

The Conservative leader will join more than 40 volunteers from his party who have been working on aid projects in the east African country for the past week.

His one-night visit coincides with the publication of a Tory policy review urging greater scrutiny of the way aid money is spent and the "naming and shaming" of nations who seek to advance their own ends through donations.

Amid doubts about the point of Mr Cameron's stay while the Tories are under pressure in the polls, he will be seeking to emphasise the legacy of his party's fortnight-long "social action" programme in Rwanda.

But questions will be asked about the wisdom of the trip at a time when right-wing Tories are openly agitating for a change of course, and reports suggest a handful of backbenchers have written letters demanding a vote of no confidence in his leadership.

Mr Cameron insisted on Sunday he would not "retreat into the comfort zone" of traditional Tory policies and will stick to his strategy of moving the Conservatives on to the political centre ground. He is expected to use an end-of-term address at Westminster on Wednesday to lay down the law to restive backbenchers.

Suggestions that the Tories' activities in Rwanda are publicity-seeking have been dismissed out of hand by project leader Andrew Mitchell, the shadow international development secretary, who insists his team is making a "modest contribution" and gaining valuable experience.

Mr Cameron's aides have also stressed that the work of the Globalisation and Global Poverty Policy Group is serious and not playing to the whims of voters.

The group is set to call for fewer conditions to be attached to aid money for developing countries and instead a greater focus on transparency in its use.

Ideas include requiring recipient governments to publish the entitlements of specific hospitals and schools from aid cash so that local media and communities can better identify corruption.