David Cameron has stepped up his attempts get more women to support the Tories in an interview in glossy magazine Grazia, where he discussed dates, chauvanism and the "gladatorial" atmosphere of PMQs.

The prime minister said his weekly PMQs joust with Ed Miliband was "testosterone-charged" and he found it the most "unpleasant-looking thing that I have to do every week".

"It is confrontational, adversarial and quite difficult to be anything else unless you want to get completely squashed by the other side..

"I think that sometimes you can come across in a way that you don’t mean to, that’s not the real you. You come across as a macho, aggressive male and I think that’s what PMQs tends to push you in to."

Cameron had been criticised for repeatedly telling Labour's Angela Eagle to "calm down dear" during PMQs and for telling backbench Conservative MP Nadine Dorries he understood she was "frustrated" in September.

He also opened up about intimate moments with his wife, and what it was like to go out when prime minister.

"The first time Sam and I went out for a romantic dinner after I’d become PM, she leaned across to me and whispered, 'I’m sure I recognise that guy at the next door table' and I said, 'Yes darling, they’re the protection team!'"

But he was criticised by Labour's Tom Watson who said "words are not enough": "In his interview, it seems that Cameron is trying to look as if he dislikes macho culture in politics and addressing the problem that he is utterly out of touch with women. But the problem is that words are not enough. His policies hurt women and families."