BRITAIN: Frank Millar, London Editor, reports on the row over "spin-doctors" that is now a full-blown Whitehall farce
The British Transport Secretary, Mr Stephen Byers, was under renewed pressure to quit last night as the continuing row about his departmental "spin doctors" developed into a full-blown Whitehall farce.
Charges of lying and evasion were laid at the door of Number 10 as Mr Martin Sixsmith - who reputedly resigned as head of communications along with the disgraced special adviser, Ms Jo Moore, in a dispute over press leaks about plans to "bury" bad news on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral - insisted he had been forced out by an alliance of Mr Byers's colleagues and Downing Street officials. He maintained he had never in fact resigned and said he was considering turning up for work this morning.
At the same time, another difficult week threatened for the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, amid renewed questions about his support for the millionaire Labour donor, Mr Lakshmi Mittal, in his takeover of Romania's steel industry. There were allegations that he was personally involved in helping secure a £1 million donation for the Millennium Dome from the controversial Hinduja brothers when one of the tycoons was applying for a British passport. And there was the starkest warning yet that Mr Blair could face open rebellion on the Labour benches if he backs President Bush in military action against Iraq.
Mr Blair is reported ready to fly to Washington in six weeks time for a special summit with Mr Bush to agree details of a fresh push to topple President Saddam Hussein. However, as the US Defence Secretary, Mr Donald Rumsfeld, told journalists from the Telegraph Group that Mr Saddam's regime could only be removed by outside intervention, 86 of 101 Labour MPs told a survey for the BBC's On The Record programme they disagreed with Mr Bush's "axis of evil" speech and did not believe there was evidence to justify an attack on Iraq as part of any phase two of the "war" on international terrorism.
Faced with the prospect of a backbench revolt, the Observer yesterday reported that the Blair government is preparing to publish detailed evidence of Iraq's developing nuclear capabilities and Mr Saddam's investigation of ways to launch "dirty" nuclear bombs - unsophisticated devices capable of wreaking havoc if ever used.
With MPs returning to the Commons after their mid-term break, however, Number 10's more immediate focus was on the possible implications of Mr Sixsmith's allegations for Mr Byers, and his ministry's permanent secretary, Sir Richard Mottram - and on yesterday's direct challenge to the Downing Street "line" on the Mittal affair by a former Whitehall permanent secretary.
The likelihood of a fresh Conservative offensive on the issue in the Commons this week increased after Sir Richard Packer told the Sunday Telegraph it was "apparent" it was Mr Blair's own office which told the British ambassador to Romania that the billionaire tycoon was a "friend" of the prime minister. This flatly contradicted Number 10's assertion that Mr Blair had acted solely on impartial official advice when helping Mr Mittal acquire the steelworks.
Mr Byers, meanwhile, insisted Mr Sixsmith had resigned on February 15th, and suggested these were "personnel matters" dealt with by the permanent secretary and not by him as minister. However Mr Sixsmith's detailed note of the affair suggests Sir Richard at first assured him he would not be forced out - describing the minister as a "cunning" operator who "never takes responsibility for difficult decisions" - before warning Mr Sixsmith that Downing Street's "smear machine" would go "into overdrive" in order to discredit him.
On hearing Mr Byers announce Mr Sixsmith's "resignation" on television, Sir Richard reputedly told a fellow civil servant: "It's been the biggest cock-up ever and we're all completely f*****."