The Tories must show they are "less arrogant", said chairman Francis Maude as the party suffered a dramatic poll slump on the eve of its annual conference.
Party members were gathering in Bournemouth, with pressure mounting on David Cameron to prove wrong critics who allege he is "all spin and no substance".
The extent of the task facing him was underlined by a survey which found most voters thought it was "hard to know what the Conservative Party stands for at the moment".
And the same poll - by YouGov - showed the party had surrendered a seven point lead over Labour in less than a month. Labour, in the wake of Tony Blair's valedictory speech, picked up five points to match the Tories on 36%, with Mr Cameron's party dropping two.
A second poll also showed a slump in the Tories' lead over Labour - cut by 3% since mid-September in the Sunday Mirror/ICM survey to just a single point. The latest findings put them on 36%, Labour on 35% and the Liberal Democrats on 19%. In August the lead was as high as nine points.
Mr Cameron - whose personal approval rating also took a hit - is ready to take on "policy-free" accusations "head on", aides say.
However, the Tories also confirmed there would be no specific new policy commitments made at the conference - Mr Cameron's first as leader.
Instead, he will focus on the work of a series of commissions he has set up to examine key areas of policy - but which are not due to report until next summer. The body examining tax policy is reportedly ready to call for £20 billion to be slashed from income and inheritance tax.
A defiant shadow chancellor George Osborne insisted that the leadership would not budge on its mantra that economic stability must be put first. "We will not blink, we will not budge. Let's get some things absolutely clear - economic stability will come before tax cuts."
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Mr Maude insisted the issue would be up for open debate at the conference. Mr Cameron's "new direction" would "show that the party is becoming more green, more local, looking at devolving power". And the Tories would be "a party that's less arrogant about the ability of politicians to have all the answers to every problem".
