Powers of Blair aides 'should be reduced'
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Your support makes all the difference.Alastair Campbell should be stripped of his power to give orders to all civil servants, the Prime Minister was told yesterday.
The Wicks Committee on Standards in Public Life said Mr Campbell's power should be limited to "work carried out in the Prime Minister's office". It suggested that Mr Campbell, Tony Blair's communications and strategy chief, be prevented from "undermining the political impartiality of civil servants". He should have no role in their promotion, sacking or conduct, it added.
The report into the role of special advisers also said Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair's chief of staff, should be banned from asking "civil servants to do anything improper or illegal, or anything which might undermine the role and duties of permanent civil servants".
The report, the result of a year-long inquiry provoked by the Jo Moore scandal, looked at the role of special advisers – the powerful political aides to ministers who have wide-ranging powers including policy formulation and control of communications.
The committee, chaired by Sir Nigel Wicks, said parliament should set an upper limit for the number of special advisers ministers can hire. Special advisers should not be treated as civil servants because they were political appointees and accountable directly to ministers. They "should be separated out as a category of government servant distinct from the Civil Service".
The report, Defining the Boundaries within the Executive, also suggested removing the power of permanent secretaries to investigate ministerial scandals.
It said two or three sleaze investigators should be appointed by the Prime Minister to investigate allegations of a breach of the ministerial code.
Some members of the committee are believed to have expressed concern that allowing the Prime Minister to appoint the investigators, after consulting the two main opposition leaders, could undermine their impartiality.
Downing Street rejected the suggested curbs on Mr Campbell. It said he needed the power "to direct different parts of the government machine. That's an important part of his job and it is difficult to see how he could do it otherwise."
The Tories said curbs on Mr Campbell and Mr Powell were long overdue.
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