Cameron 'moral capitalism' plea

David Cameron will call for reform of global markets

Conservative leader David Cameron will later tell some of the world's leading financiers and business people they should embrace "moral capitalism".

In a speech to the world economic forum in Davos, Mr Cameron will praise business as a wealth creating force.

But he will add: "We must also stand up to business when the things that people value are at risk."

And he will call for curbs on "global corporate juggernauts" as a response to the current economic crisis.

'Moral framework'

He will say: "We must stand up for business because it's businesses, not governments or politicians, that create jobs, wealth and opportunity, it's businesses that drive innovation, and choice, and help families achieve a higher standard of living for a lower cost.

"But we must also stand up to business when the things that people value are at risk.

Our financial system boasts people so bright they've created financial instruments beyond even their own understanding David Cameron Brown urges global 'confidence'

"So it's time to place the market within a moral framework - even if that means standing up to companies who make life harder for parents and families.

"It's time to help create vibrant, local economies - even if that means standing in the way of the global corporate juggernauts.

And it's time to decentralise economic power, to spread opportunity and wealth and ownership more equally through society and that will mean, as some have put it, recapitalising the poor rather than just the banks."

In a echo of New Labour rhetoric, he will tell his audience at the Swiss ski resort: "The best chapters in our economic history are those that embrace the many, not the few."

'Bright people'

He will call for the return of "truly popular capitalism" of the type found in 1950s America "when there was a sense that everyone could have a slice of the pie" and the 1980s when "Margaret Thatcher led an ownership revolution that gave millions a new stake in our economy".

And he will urge those responsible for the financial crisis to put something back into deprived communities, "giving them the tools to make the most of the market, to help them with banking and saving and owning".

"Our financial system boasts people so bright they've created financial instruments beyond even their own understanding.

"Now they need to use those talents to help the poorest build assets."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has used his trip to Davos to urge global action on the economy ahead of April's G20 summit and to warn against protectionism.

But some business leaders and senior politicians, including US President Barack Obama, have pulled out of the summit amid a fresh flurry of grim economic news.