David Cameron suggested to glance at Gordon Brown by choosing guru

David Cameron is likely to try his new tactics on Gordon Brown

David Cameron has been secretly advised to stare at Gordon Brown in televised Election debates to make him feel uncomfortable.

It is one of a series of tactics that the Conservatives hope will give Mr Cameron the edge over the Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

According to documents seen by The Mail on Sunday, the Tory leader has also been urged to avoid drinking water provided by television studios because it is served so cold it ;tightens the throat.

The advice comes from Canadian political strategist Patrick Muttart, who has contacted the Tories as they are preparing for the 90-minute TV debates, the first to be held in Britain.

Mr Muttart is credited with masterminding Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harpers election victories.

In Canada and the United States, televised debates have long been a key feature of campaigns and have attracted huge audiences.

In the documents, Mr Muttart says Mr Cameron should ;practise staring down Brown while the camera is focused on the moderators, other leaders. Makes your opponent feel uncomfortable.

But he adds that when Mr Cameron is ;attacking/rebutting he should ;look at his opponents shoulder and not his face. Facial reactions can be distracting/destabilising.

Personal attacks, meanwhile, should be ;well-timed and well-constructed but used infrequently ;for the biggest impact.

Most of Mr Muttarts advice is listed under a section entitled ;key presentation points. It states: ;Ensure Cameron has room-temperature water. Cold water (with ice) tightens the throat. You should control his water not the TV studio.

"When Brown/Clegg is addressing Cameron he should not write notes. To viewers it looks rude.

Mr Cameron"s long-time friend Steve Hilton and wife Rachel Whetstone

There are no clear policies on either taxation or spending. Nor, worst of all, can the Conservatives nail Labour for its myriad and very obvious failures.

Almost incredibly, there is no campaign manager taking charge of what comes out of the Conservative campaign headquarters. I say incredibly because there is no shortage of senior figures advising the Tory leader.

Steve Hilton, a long-time friend of Cameron, is responsible for strategy. He is seen as so important that he was allowed to do his job from California when his wife Rachel Whetstone went to work at Google HQ.

George Osborne, who is the Election co-ordinator as well as the Shadow Chancellor, is a talented strategist in his own right, and Andy Coulson, the straight-talking former News Of The World editor, is the Partys media man.

George Bridges has been brought back by Osborne to serve as his campaign deputy. Bridges is a more tribal Conservative than many of those around Cameron.

Word has it that Osborne lured him back precisely because he wanted his more traditional instincts represented.

This structure, though, is top-heavy. Differences of opinion are inevitable but, as one insider puts it, the problem comes with ;lots of people having the authority to interfere but no one having the authority to decide.

Hilton, who is viewed as an iconoclast within the Party, believes the Conservatives should stick to just a few broad messages.

Osborne, in contrast, thinks they should be emphasising different things to different groups.

While Hiltons approach might seem ;touchy feely to traditionalists, Coulson represents a rather more straightforward, ;pub-ready version of Conservatism.

He is meant to be the man who understands what will rally ;Essex man to the Tories.These structural problems have been compounded by various errors.

On the first Monday of the year, Cameron found himself unable to remember what his policy on marriage was.

Then came the shift in the leaderships rhetoric about how much public spending it would cut.

The Cameron operation is a tight-knit circle but they need to remember that they arent running a leadership campaign but a Party.

They would be well advised to make more of a show of listening and consulting the Party and explaining to it why things have to change.

There are signs of things improving, though. The Tories successful offensive on Gordon Browns ;death-tax, forcing him to explain how he would pay for extravagant expenditure on care for the elderly, was an encouraging sign.

Cameron and Osborne and their staffs have now moved out of their Parliamentary offices to Conservative headquarters, signalling a move into Election mode.

In a stirring address to staff on Monday, Osborne told them that the next 80 days were the most important of his professional life and theirs.

A sense of camaraderie between the wider Party staff and the leadership - something that has been lacking - is now being fostered.

Clearly, there is work to do and Cameron needs to sound a more certain trumpet.

Without that, it will be hard to persuade Conservative MPs, let alone the voters, that the Tories are heading in the right direction.