Blair's enemies without

By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Meacher's doubts were already surfacing

Don Corleone said it best: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

It is a dictum that Godfather Blair appears to have forgotten.

By sacking environment minister Michael Meacher from the job he has held since 1997, Mr Blair no longer has any control over him, or knows what he is getting up to.

And what Mr Meacher is currently getting up to at every opportunity is attacking the prime minister over his policy on GM food.

Thanks to his reshuffles, the prime minister already has no shortage of former ministers on his backbenches ready to speak their minds. So what is another one here or there?

Because Mr Meacher's claims, like so many from the other ex-ministers, go to the heart of the way the prime minister operates, the case for the prosecution is building.

Small cabal

His basic argument is that Mr Blair has already made up his mind on the hugely-controversial issue of GM food - he supports it - and is trimming evidence to fit the policy.

Blair said to support GM crops

Underlying his remarks is the suggestion that Mr Blair decides policy without much reference to his ministers or anyone else outside a small cabal of advisers.

Now that's got a ring about it. Only last week, former minister Robin Cook claimed the prime minister trimmed intelligence reports to fit his policy of going to war on Iraq, which had been decided in just the same manner.

It is a claim that has always dogged the New Labour government but, as is always the way, things appear to have got worse as Mr Blair finds himself increasingly on the defensive on any number of fronts.

Prime ministers always run the risk of becoming insular, dictatorial and out of touch with their own MPs and voters the longer they remain in power.

And the bigger their majority, the greater that tendency appears to become.

Notable exception

At its worst, when they fear they are beginning to lose their grip, it encourages a bunker mentality which sees enemies around every corner and which promotes secrecy and isolationism.

The prime minister had clearly decided he had outlived his usefulness.

And many believe New Labour had that problem built in from day one because of its leader's reliance on a small body of advisers and spin doctors and his semi-detached relationship with his own party.

The regular complaint now is that it is this tiny group which dictates policy with precious little reference to the cabinet, the parliamentary party or anyone lese.

The whole row over the scrapping of the Lord Chancellor's post has that at its heart.

Ministers are there to support the prime minister's policy, not go around formulating their own policies. Gordon Brown is, of course, the notable exception that proves the rule.

And Mr Meacher's replacement, Elliot Morley is known as a loyalist who can be relied on by the leader.

Whether he will be as trusted by environmentalists as was Mr Meacher remains to be seen.

Golden rule

That was always Mr Meacher's great strength - he could pursue government policy while being accepted as an honest broker by environmental groups. He even had decent relations with the countryside lobby.

But the prime minister had clearly decided he had outlived his usefulness.

To some extent that is because Mr Meacher's views were becoming pretty clear, even from the frontbench.

What Mr Blair clearly did not want was an environment minister who disagreed with his policy on GM and was increasingly prepared to say so.

So he opted for what he presumably saw as the least bad option and sacked him.

And that ensures yet another of Don Corleone's golden rules in broken: "Never let anyone outside the family know what you are thinking."