Labour MP Glenda Jackson has predicted that the prime minister will face a near impossible task in winning back the trust of the nation.

In an interview with this website the Hampstead and Highgate MP warned that the public now feels a "deep, deep mistrust" of the Labour administration.

"What is concerning to me is that, is this going to disaffect people so much that they're not going to turn out and vote at the next election?" Jackson asked.

"I understand the most recent opinion polls have shown trust in the prime minister individually has plummeted from 64 per cent to I think 32 to 33.

"I think it is going to be extremely difficult for that trust to be rebuilt as far as the public is concerned."

The leading rebel and former minister said the government had attempted to dupe the country over the reasons for the war in Iraq.

"I have always believed that the reason Number 10 engaged in what I have dubbed the phoney war with the BBC on the issue of the Gilligan story was to deflect attention from the fact that ministers were finding it increasingly difficult to give straight answers to straight questions on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and their ability to have been launched within 45 minutes," she told ePolitix.com.

Following Blair's appearance before the Hutton inquiry Jackson accused the prime minister of hiding behind "a lawyer's precise choice of words" to shield the fact that he misled the nation over his role in the events leading up to the death of Dr David Kelly.

And she predicts that the failure to uncover any weapons of mass destruction will lead to fresh calls for Tony Blair's resignation.

The former transport minister also slammed defence secretary Geoff Hoon for his failure to take the blame for events in his own department.

"One does wonder, given what Geoff Hoon had said, precisely why we need a secretary of state for the MoD," she said.

"It seems perfectly capable on his testimony of running without any kind of government minister at all."

Jackson also called on the government to begin "eating diplomatic humble pie" to restore faith in the United Nations and to set Iraq on the road to recovery.

"I think what we should be looking for is some way of both the United Kingdom and the United States eating diplomatic humble pie and working assiduously to attempt to get an international force into Iraq," she said.

"As importantly I think also setting the United Nations in the political driving seat. I think if those two changes could be brought about then we may begin to see Iraq begin to stabilise."