Kent's under-fire police and crime commissioner Ann Barnes is back in the spotlight after prime minister David Cameron criticised her during a radio interview.

Speaking to Dominic King on BBC Radio Kent, Mr Cameron said: "I don't think she is making a very good fist of her job.

"But the truth is the people of Kent will have an answer to that which is to be able to elect a new police and crime commissioner."

Tory Mr Cameron, whose government abolished police authorities and introduced the new role, was commenting in the wake of a whole raft of controversies that have dogged Mrs Barnes who stood as an independent when she was elected.

The latest is the fact she will be on holiday on Tuesday when Kent Police announces wholesale changes to its policing model. She is paid a salary of £85,000 a year.

Mr Cameron said: "She is responsible for her own movements but I have to say that does not sound very impressive.

"I don't think she has impressed in this role."

Yesterday property tycoon and boxing fan Fergus Wilson said he was considering taking on Mrs Barnes prompting a storm of controversy.

In recent weeks, Mrs Barnes was criticised for her appearance on a Channel 4 fly-on-the-wall documentary Meet The Police Commissioner where she was unable to write her job title correctly on a flip chart, found it difficult to explain her approach to policing priorities which she called The Onion and asked an Asda store manager the most common type of crime he encountered. His answer was shoplifting.

Mrs Barnes, famous for touring the county in Ann Force One, hit the headlines last when she appointed Kent's first youth commissioner Paris Brown who later resigned after the discovery of comments she posted on Twitter.

Just days after Channel 4 aired its programme, it emerged Ms Brown's replacement Kerry Boyd, 20, had been having a relationship with a 50-year-old county councillor.

Mrs Barnes vowed to stand for election again when she appeared before the Kent and Medway Crime Panel at the start of the month.

During an uncomfortable two-hour grilling before the panel which decided not to hold a vote of confidence in Mrs Barnes she said: "It is my intention to stand. I still have two years to go and I have a lot to do."

"People judge you on the years you work and what you achieve in those years.

"I have delivered on all my policing promises. I do think I am the right person for the job. I do deliver."

A spokesman for Mrs Barnes's office said she would be unable to comment.