Dyke: Voting Lib Dem

Former BBC chief Greg Dyke has attacked the prime minister and warned of the dangers of a third term in office for Tony Blair.

Dyke, who is a former Labour supporter, hit out at the presidential style of government under Tony Blair.

His comments came as he announced he would be supporting Charles Kennedy's Liberal Democrats on May 5.

"I do genuinely believe that our democracy has been undermined in the years since the Blair government and I think another Blair government would pose further dangers to our democracy," Dyke told journalists.

"I am unable to support a Labour Party led by Tony Blair. It's now, I think, very clear that the Blair government tried to do to the legal opinion [of the attorney general on the Iraq war] exactly what they did to the intelligence.

"They chose the bits they liked and they ignored the rest. I don't think that is acceptable. The thing that's haunting me and should haunt all of us is what if it had been one of our children going to war?"

Dyke, who clashed with the government over the David Kelly affair, said the prime minister's style of government had undermined the basic principles of democracy.

"I believe what we have seen over eight years is the destruction of Cabinet government. Instead we have replaced it with a presidential system of government," he added.

"I think that was made very clear by Mr Blair last week when he made it very clear it was his decision to go to war in Iraq, not his Cabinet's.

"That's not the democracy I've ever voted for."