Conservative leadership candidate David Cameron has confirmed he would consider bailing out Tony Blair if the Prime Minister could not get his policies through the House of Commons.
Mr Cameron and rival contender David Davis were in Solihull for the first day of the Conservative leadership election hustings.
They were quizzed by party members at the National Motorcycle Museum yesterday.
Another event was held in Leicester yeterday and others will take place across the country.
In an interview, Mr Cameron made no apology for promising to back the Government in the House of Commons when he thinks it is right - even if it saved Tony Blair from defeat.
Opposition on the Labour back benches means Mr Blair could find himself relying on support from the Conservatives to push reforms of schools, hospitals and benefits through the Commons.
Mr Cameron said: "The Conservatives in Parliament should be consistent and not opportunistic.
"People want their politicians to act in the public good and not to play the party game."
This could run to supporting the Prime Minister over the Government's controversial education White Paper, which Labour backbenchers are unenthusiastic about.
Asked specifically whether the Tories would back Mr Blair in the Commons over the White Paper if he became leader, Mr Cameron suggested he would.
He said: "We should back moves towards school autonomy."
Mr Cameron highlighted his policies to win back cities such as Birmingham for the Tories.
He said: "I launched my campaign in Birmingham about a month ago, and that was a sign of how serious I am about getting the Conservatives back into the cities."
He highlighted two policies he believed would allow the party to help improve Britain's inner cities.
"One is unleashing the voluntary sector in our cities. I was very impressed by what I saw at Balsall Heath Forum when I visited and met Dick Atkinson, the chief executive, last month."
He said the forum was tackling problems such as crime, prostitution and poor housing, and similar community organisations should be freed from red tape to help them be equally successful.
"Dick's approach is my approach - to free the voluntary sector. That would be a really big policy initiative.
"The second would be police reform, including elected police commissioners."
He also wanted to make it possible "to sack bad officers," he said. The aim was to make police far more responsive to the concerns of local people.
There are three weeks of campaigning to go before a result is announced on December 6.
But despite speculation that Mr Davis was making up some lost ground, Mr Cameron's campaign now appears to have regained the early momentum.
Polls last weekend suggested he had a two-to-one lead among Conservative members who have already voted, while he received a major boost when former leader William Hague and recent challenger Liam Fox came out in his support.
Mr Cameron's supporters said winning the backing of two senior figures on the right of the party demonstrated their candidate was able to unite the Tories.
