The Conservatives stepped up their policymaking drive yesterday with a "wide-ranging" examination of immigration strategy that could abandon an election pledge to introduce quotas for asylum seekers.

Francis Maude, Tory party chairman and one of several modernisers appointed to high-profile roles in David Cameron's shadow cabinet, appeared to acknowledge that a heavy focus on immigration issues had backfired for the party at the general election. He told the BBC's World at One that it was important to show that the Tories did not have an "antagonism" towards immigration and that the Conservatives were "decent people".