Brown loses moral authority - Houseley

11.15.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 6th Oct 2007

Gordon Brown has lost any claim he had to lead the nation with integrity, and condemned Britain to two years of moral drift, says Andrew Houseley.

Andrew was commenting on the events of the past few days, in which the Prime Minister:

• finally ended speculation that he had started of an Autumn election

• did so by giving an exclusive interview to one network instead of making a proper statement

• pre-empted his own statement to Parliament on troop commitments in Iraq by spinning a misleading announcement on withdrawal numbers while posing with soldiers

• tried to ban a march to Parliament calling for troops to be withdrawn from Iraq to coincide with his statement on Monday

• brought forward a hasty top-down report on the NHS after promising to talk to its beleaguered staff

"Gordon Brown's behaviour has horrified many people, who expect the Prime Minister to lead with integrity," added Andrew Houseley.

"Ridiculously, he has made David Cameron and the Tories look good, handing them custody of the moral high ground. In declaring that there will not be an election next year either, after showing so vividly his true colours, Brown has condemned the country to two years of leadership without moral authority. Many will add that they now doubt he has any mandate to govern. He has lost the confidence of the British people, who also may doubt that he has any regard for them."

Andrew echoed Ming Campbell's call for fixed term parliaments, one of a range of constitutional reforms agreed at Conference in Brighton. "Ming is absolutely right to criticise a system which allows the Prime Minister to choose the date of the general election, firing the starting gun for a race in which he's running. The public are appalled at Brown's behaviour which will only increase awareness of the need for change. Unlike the Conservatives or Labour, only the Liberal Democrats are committed to making the changes needed, only we are driven by principle rather than cynical manipulation of headlines."