Bucking the system

		By Nick Assinder BBC News Online political correspondent

Anyone who believed the second New Labour government would be humbled by its massive victory and start behaving less like an elected dictatorship after 7 June will have been disappointed by its behaviour so far.

Tony Blair has shown no sign that he is about to drop his control freakery or limit the influence of his spin doctors.

The "real" deputy prime minister and arch control freak, Alastair Campbell, may have removed himself from the front line but, make no mistake, he is as all-seeing and all-powerful as ever.

Campbell still calling the shots

So it came as little surprise that, when the appointment of ministers' parliamentary private secretaries was announced, it came from Downing Street.

Traditionally, ministers have chosen who they wanted to have as their bag carrier - with Downing Street's approval - and have then issued statements from their individual departments.

This year, however, ministers were silent and only when all the appointments had been completed was a full list issued - from No 10.

It was, needless to say, packed with members of the Blair fan club, and there were even rumours that ministers had simply been presented with a list of MPs they could chose from.

I wonder whose idea that could have been?

Not a number

Still, there are some signs that Labour MPs are finally starting to kick up.

First there was minister Chris Mullin who astonished everyone by asking the prime minister to leave him off his frontbench in future so he could concentrate more on select committee work and other parliamentary and constituency business.

Then there was the strange case of backbencher Karen Buck who, after Tony Blair's post-election reshuffle, was informed she had been made a whip.

Unfortunately, nobody had asked her whether she wanted the job - and she turned it down. She also claimed she wanted to concentrate more on select committee and constituency business.

Now, two swallows don't make a spring, but there is a growing suggestion in Westminster that MPs are rebelling against the sidelining of parliament by the Blair government.

Instead of taking on junior government jobs, which effectively silence them and will probably lead nowhere, they would rather get back to basics and use parliament as their platform.

Buck is passing

That is the last thing Tony and Alastair want, so Mr Mullin and Ms Buck will now be viewed with huge suspicion in Downing Street.

But they are pretty much untouchable. Having rejected patronage they are now every prime minister's worst nightmare - individuals.

You can almost hear the cries coming from their offices: "I am not a number - I am a free man (or woman)."

Beer and sandwiches

Po-faced Downing Street officials refused to reveal what was on the menu when Tony Blair had union bosses for dinner the other day.

"We are not going to help you write your cliched 'beer and sandwiches' stories," said one press officer.

Deputy prime minister John "Thumper" Prescott has a more robust attitude to these things.

Shortly after the 1997 election he called union leaders into his office for a chat.

They all turned up on time, but Prezza was nowhere to be seen. Eventually he burst through the door carrying a huge tray overflowing with bottles of beer and sandwiches.

"The press will say we had 'em, so we might as well bloody have 'em," he declared.

Christmas comes early

Only the House of Commons catering committee could have come up with this one.

One the hottest day of the year so far one of the canteens offered a special menu of turkey, roast potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Presumably they have an Australian chef who hasn't yet worked out that, in Britain, Christmas does not fall in the summer.

Seeds of dissent

Benn is ploughing his furrow

Veteran left-winger Tony Benn will be missed in the Commons since he decided to retire at the last election so he could "concentrate on politics."

But he is still going to be a thorn in the side of Tony Blair and everything New Labour.

Interviewed recently about the government's attempts to sideline parliament he said: "Prime minister's question time now has so many planted questions it might as well be called gardeners' question time."

So, two green fingers to you Tony.

Virtual leaders

If you are already bored with the Tory leadership campaign, or think you could do a better job than any of the contenders, than a new online game might just be up your alley.

Portillo: game on

Honourablemember allows you to pretend you are a new MP and offers you ways of crawling and creeping your way up to the top job.

You have to avoid pitfalls like having a homosexual past or being a tobacco pusher.

It is great fun - and, the designers insist, educational too.

I dare Michael Portillo and Ken Clarke to give it a go and see how they do.

If you have any political gossip or information on what our MPs are up to, e-mail Nick Assinder (all mails will be treated as confidential).