BLACKPOOL, England — Mayor Bloomberg used an international stage to repudiate fiscal conservatives in America, saying their British counterparts were far better at practicing what they preach.

“Too many of them want to run up enormous deficits,” he told the annual Conservative Party Conference in this northern seaside town. “That’s not conservatism — that’s alchemy, or, if you like, lunacy.”

Looking and sounding very much like a presidential hopeful (the mayor even gave a candidate-like thumbs-up sign at the end of his speech), Mr. Bloomberg started laying the groundwork for taking his national independent movement global.

He said the orthodoxies of the mainstream political parties are “obsolete” for dealing with the new interdependent world. Instead, he touted the independent, nonpartisan style he’s implemented in New York, which he said “cuts across ideologies” and rejects “policy by polling.”

“I’ve always thought that what party you’re in is so meaningless,” Mr. Bloomberg said after making his remarks. “I can’t imagine why anybody cares. The real issue is the merits.”

The argument could help position him for a third-party run against the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees, or it possibly could help him carve out a unique, post-City Hall position as a diplomat who could help improve America’s relationships with other countries. Either way, his independent argument seemed to take on new shape this weekend as he met with elected officials in Paris on Friday and Saturday, spoke in front of Tory leaders yesterday, and prepared to meet with the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, today.

“Speeches like this can’t help but advance that agenda,” the mayor said after his remarks yesterday.

As Tory activists trickled out of the theater, he added: “I, you know, wish the president would be out there more speaking. I think lots of people could do it.”

While talking to reporters, the mayor slipped and said he would “probably” not run for higher office, before quickly correcting himself and saying he would definitely not be a candidate.

When asked who he had in mind when he criticized fiscal conservatives, he basically said everyone in Washington deserved blame for the sky-high national debt.

“I think both sides of the aisle, both parties, both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to blame the president only. … The president has not, I think never, vetoed a budget, on the other hand Congress has passed a lot of very big budgets that we can’t afford.”

Democrats and Republicans alike will no doubt try to shoot down that claim if Mr. Bloomberg enters the race.

The speech, the main event on a four-day European tour, offered Mr. Bloomberg a plum speaking slot on opening day of the Conservative Party Conference. While the invitation was extended after Governor Schwarzenegger cancelled, it highlights that Mr. Bloomberg has become something of an international draw.

The California governor, who addressed the crowd via satellite, used one of his favorite terms to describe the mayor: “my soul mate.” He compared Mr. Bloomberg to the Tory leader, David Cameron, who has been attempting to reinvent the party by moving it back to the political center.

Mr. Schwarzenegger, said the public wants “actions and results,” not ideology.

Mr. Cameron has been billing this weeklong convention as a chance to show the public that the Conservatives should be voted back into office. But while the party’s popularity surged after he took over in 2005, new polls show that the Labour Party has regained a substantial lead.

Mr. Bloomberg received a standing ovation despite a somewhat rambling speech. He had a number of laugh lines, including how he saved his “pink suit” in case he was invited to 10 Downing St. A former prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, recently wore a red suit, Labour Party colors, to visit with the president.

Mr. Bloomberg, who owns a home in London, tried early in his political tenure in New York to institute nonpartisan elections, but failed. Whether his message will resonate internationally and nationally is yet to be seen.

Even as Mr. Bloomberg praised the Tories for being “way more fiscally conservative than many American politicians who call themselves conservatives,” his presence here yesterday should probably not be taken as an endorsement of the party’s views.

The mayor is scheduled to appear today with Mr. Livingstone, London’s Labour mayor, to discuss congestion pricing and the so-called Ring of Steel, a web of security cameras surrounding the British capital’s financial district. Bloomberg envisions something similar for Lower Manhattan.

After posing for a photo with Mr. Livingstone’s Conservative opponent, Borris Johnson, Mr. Bloomberg said he wasn’t taking sides. He said simply that he’d wish them both good luck.