How do you tell off a prime minister?

Tony Blair and national statistician Karen Dunnell who, sort of, told him off

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Tony Blair was due a ticking off this week after he leaked highly confidential employment figures. Pity the poor person who has to waggle their finger at the prime minister... only it doesn't quite work like that.

If the prime minister makes a mistake or breaks a rule - how is he or she held to account? A stern letter? A dressing down by a watchdog? A keel-hauling by members of the House of Commons?

Of course, the real sanction against any premier is being voted out - either by his parliamentary colleagues or by the electorate. But how are more minor complaints handled?

WHO, WHAT, WHY? A regular feature in the BBC News Magazine - aiming to answer some of the questions behind the headlines

This week at the TUC conference, Tony Blair was accused of jumping the gun in quoting from employment figures that had not yet been released by the Office for National Statistics.

But how do you complain if you think it's the guy at the (very) top who has made the error?

In this case, the complainant, National Statistician Karen Dunnell, wrote to the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O'Donnell, pointing out that Mr Blair's reported remarks "clearly contravened" the code of practice for handling official statistics.

Small print

Sir Gus, the senior civil servant responsible for overseeing the code of practice for government ministers, was asked by Ms Dunnell to "bring this point to the attention of all at 10, Downing Street".

OTHER WAYS TO REBUKE THE PM Slow handclap - a la the Women's Institute conference Button-holing on campaign trail - tried by voter Sharon Storer, in 2001 PM can also face wrath of back-benchers in closed party meetings Any MP can face scrutiny of the parliamentary watchdog, the Commissioner for Standards

"All" at 10 Downing Street didn't necessarily mean the PM was going to be advised personally of the small print in the contract. Because, replying to the complaint, Sir Gus said that he had "discussed the issue with colleagues in the Prime Minister's Office".

"They are fully seized of the importance of complying with the National Statistics Code of Practice and have already put in place steps to tighten the procedures for handling statistics subject to the pre-release arrangements," wrote Sir Gus.

"This should, I hope, make sure you do not have cause to have to write to me again on this subject."

And in Wednesday's morning press briefing, the prime minister's official spokesman said "the prime minister was talking about the overall trend in general terms, and he did not talk about any specific figures. If people had concerns, then we would take that into account for the future".

Which is political shorthand for saying: "End of."

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