Dr Fox also set himself apart from frontrunner Theresa May, who has called for the long-standing Tory target of achieving a deficit by 2020 to be scrapped.
He said: “All the talk of ‘austerity’ at a time of record spending has made it much more difficult to make the case of living within our means.
“It is simply wrong to spend money today and pass the bill on to the next generation in the form of debt interest.”
He also backed tax cuts, called for an increase in defence spending and a review of the aid budget, the maintenance of which David Cameron made a key symbol of his premiership.
