Charles Colson, Richard Nixon's ‘hatchet-man’, died last week. Had he lived, he would have been able to give David Cameron plenty of advice about how to handle the deepening self-inflicted crisis he is now embroiled in. I expect his opening piece of advice would have been, "David, control your temper and stop digging..."

I first saw David Cameron at the despatch box at an early point during the last Parliament, before he became Tory leader. If memory serves, he was moving an Opposition Day debate on education policy. After some barracking and continued intervention attempts from Labour MPs, Cameron began to shout, at one point throwing his speaking notes above his head. He lost his temper, he lost it quickly and it was immediately obvious that here was a man lacking in both the temperament and judgement required to hold a leading position in the contact sport of politics, let alone lead a country.

And so it continues to be proven. At the beginning is his spectacularly unsuccessful recent re-launch, the prime minister told the media that his government had endured "a bad month". Not true. If Cameron was honest with himself, he would acknowledge that he has endured a pretty torrid six months. He hasn't just weakened the public's faith in the Tories on the NHS (destroyed) or the economy (battered) but he has caused them to doubt his integrity and honesty too. Perhaps even more damaging, they doubt his work ethic and his capability to serve as Prime Minister.

Revelations regarding the involvement of Jeremy Hunt with News International in relation to the BSkyB bid which have emerged from the Leveson Inquiry are of genuine public interest and Cameron's truly awful handling of the situation so far has made Osborne's budget omnishambles appear to be the work of an amateur incompetent - quite a feat.

It isn't just the borrowed horses, the Christmas dinners or the yet to be revealed texts and emails from Cameron to Rebekkah Brooks that are (and may yet continue) to cause Cameron such problems, but it's the way he articulates such obvious disdain for justifiable  accountability and the obvious public interest. The public watches such behaviour, sees is at as a defining characteristic of a prime minister yet to win an election, and it doesn't like it.

Either lacking in self-awareness or just simply unwilling to change, Cameron continues to dish out the insults from the despatch box to those who dare to question him. His puce-faced intolerance of any woman MP who dares to question him has long since ceased to be a one-off embarrassment and is now a long term problem. His contempt for older Members of Parliament - more recently David Winnick and Dennis Skinner - is truly uncomfortable to watch.

Few qualities are less attractive than spite and petulance. There may not yet be an 'enemies list' in No 10, but sadly, for the prime minister, he is giving the impression of being a spiteful man, unafraid of being seen to be spiteful.

Hubris awaits.

Jamie Reed MP is Labour MP for Copeland and is shadow health minister

Tags: David Cameron, David Winnick, Dennis Skinner, Omnishambles