Top Tory Liam Fox’s SE1 home burgled

Dr Fox said that the burglars had taken knives out of a kitchen drawer and left them placed to threaten him if their getaway was disturbed.

His car – containing a mobile phone and laptop – was stolen after his car keys were removed by intruders.

"I'm not the only person in this country who has been a victim of crime and I'll have even greater sympathy in the future with people who are," he told reporters outside his apartment block.

He said that no sensitive documents had been stolen from the flat which led him to believe that the break-in was "entirely opportunistic".

Asked whether he would now be pressuring David Cameron to maintain police numbers should the Conservatives win the election, Dr Fox said: "I'm not intending to turn what is an unpleasant personal incident into a political stunt."

As he walked towards a waiting minicab, Dr Fox remarked wryly that the press had not paid him so much attention when he was running for the leadership of the Conservative Party.

Police were called to the shadow defence secretary's Bermondsey home at 7.20am on Thursday. The break-in is being investigated by the Met's Southwark burglary squad.

Dr Fox, who had to pull out of a press conference on Thursday morning, said that he was returning to the campaign trail and "business as usual".