Charles Kennedy will next week attack the government over the conflict in Iraq.

Unlike the other parties, the Liberal Democrats will aim to put Iraq at the forefront of their campaign as the election date draws nearer.

"It isn't over yet," Kennedy said yesterday, when asked why the Liberal Democrat campaign had barely touched on the issue.

"If we had started off on the war, people would have said it was our only policy."

Interviewed in today's Guardian, the Liberal Democrat leader says: "Leadership isn't all about who can shout and swear the loudest."