Charles Kennedy wants his party to become the main opposition

Fresh from the Liberal Democrats' win in Brent East in last Thursday's by-election, Mr Kennedy denied fighting a campaign to the left of Labour in order to win the seat.

Instead he pointed to a raft of issues he had heard raised on the doorstep from Iraq through to dissatisfaction with the local Labour council.

Speaking from Brighton where Lib Dems are gathering for their annual conference, Mr Kennedy drew the parallel between Brent East and the Bermondsey by-election in the early 1980s - a seat that has remained in Lib Dem hands ever since.

He told BBC One's Breakfast with Frost programme: "We were not to the left of Labour in Brent East - what we put forward was a number things.

"There was our stance on the international situation, our stance on the national situation and there was our attention to the local issues which had been so neglected by that Labour local authority over so many years."

Appearing on the same programme, Home Secretary David Blunkett acknowledged Labour needed to "renew its relationship with the electorate".

He said that after a period in government "you start to speak like the establishment, you start to look like the establishment and if you are not careful you start to think like the establishment."

Focus urged

Earlier Mr Kennedy urged his party to stay disciplined and maintain focus as that was the only way to achieve his aim of supplanting the Conservatives as the main opposition party.

In the wake of Thursday's result, the Lib Dems would be "under the microscope" during the Brighton conference, he said.

We have to be more professional and more strict in our entire approach as a party Charles Kennedy Time right for Lib Dem surge? Lib Dems in high spirits

And he played down suggestions that the tabling of a debate on the abolition of the monarchy would undermine the Lib Dems' credibility.

He told journalists at a news briefing that even if the party's youth wing managed to get its motion calling for a referendum on the issue voted in as party policy, such a vote was unlikely to find its way into a party manifesto.

"There's always terrible pressure as to what can or cannot be included in a general election manifesto," he said.

His comments followed a call for a reformed "bicycling monarchy" from party deputy leader Menzies Campbell, who said it was "time to start again" on the constitutional position of the Queen.

Mr Kennedy described himself as relaxed about the debate, although he made it clear he would take no part in it.

"This is not a party that is dying on its feet, it is a party that is encouraging more and more young people to come.

"They have got radical ideas that keep establishment types like me on our toes. I welcome that and I think it will be a good debate."

'Strategic blunder'

Other subjects for debate on Sunday include pensions and international trade and investment.

I am amused that winning a by-election could be described as a strategic blunder Charles Kennedy IDS attacks Lib Dem 'deceit'

Mr Kennedy also mocked a claim by Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, accusing the Lib Dems of a strategic blunder in their tactics for the Brent East by-election.

The Lib Dems' Sarah Teather seized the seat in the key north London by-election on Thursday. The Tories were beaten into third place.

Mr Duncan Smith said the Lib Dems had fought a left-wing campaign, thereby exposing the "lie" that it is a moderate party of the centre.

"The campaign which won them Brent will lose them seats all over Britain at the next election," he said.

Mr Kennedy replied: "I am amused that winning a by-election could be described as a strategic blunder."

Speaking as he arrived at the conference, he said: "Voters don't think and don't talk and don't respond to the terms of left and right.

"They want a party that's going forward, and that is the party they saw in Brent."