Probe call over adviser's conduct

Jo Moore continues to be the story

The Liberal Democrats have raised the pressure on embattled spin doctor Jo Moore by referring her conduct to the House of Commons sleaze watchdog.

Ms Moore, who recommended that her colleagues bury bad news in the fall-out from the US terror attacks, faces the possibility of a probe by the Committee for Standards and Privileges.

If government don't tackle this question there will be many more Jo Moores to come in the years ahead

Mark Oaten

Lib Dem cabinet office spokesman Mark Oaten told the BBC that he has asked the watchdog to look into whether Ms Moore had broken rules governing the conduct of advisers.

The latest accusations against Ms Moore, who is Transport Secretary Stephen Byer's special adviser, are that she tried to limit media coverage of a meeting between her boss and Railtrack.

She is said to have briefed a few selected journalists just as Chancellor Gordon Brown was delivering his pre-Budget report.

Mr Oaten told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think we need to get to the bottom of this, frankly, not just because of the Jo Moore case, but because it hits at the heart of government and the relationship between civil servants and special advisors.

Jo Moore: In the spotlight again

"If government don't tackle this question there will be many more Jo Moores to come in the years ahead."

The Standards and Privileges committee usually investigates MPs accused of breaching the code of conduct for members.

It remains unclear whether it has the right to investigate the case of Ms Moore - such a move would be unprecedented.

The Conservatives have also sought to put pressure on Mr Byers and his adviser holding a number of debates in the Commons.

Shadow transport secretary Theresa May said: "There is a growing concern in the Commons that parliamentary questions are not being answered in a number of areas particularly on the issue of Railtrack.

"They give an answer but they don't always answer the question.

"There is a very great art in this in actually trying to wheedle answers out of the government.

That is one of the problems we face at the moment.

"It is all part of the culture of spin that lies at the heart of the government."

Trouble with the trains

On Friday the head of the civil service union called for Ms Moore to "stand aside" as the row over her spin tactics escalates.

First Division Association general secretary Jonathan Baume told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there was "a great deal of frustration" in the transport department at the attention once again focusing on Ms Moore.

And there was further pressure on Mr Byers from figures showing the number of train delays had soared since he decided to put Railtrack into administration.

Byers is under pressure

Prime Minister Tony Blair's spokesman described as "absolute rubbish" the suggestion that the prime minister was distancing himself from Mr Byers.

Although he refused to deny that the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions had been rapped on the knuckles for "contaminating" coverage of the pre-Budget report.

According to the Times, a letter from Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's director of communications, said that departmental officials should have consulted Downing Street because the decision to release the minutes at that time was bound to attract negative media coverage.

'Contaminated'

Coverage of the pre-Budget statement - in which Mr Brown outlined major spending on the NHS - was, as a result, "contaminated", the letter complained.

Mr Blair's spokesman said: "I don't really intend to feed what is just becoming a processological orgy of who said what, when and where.

"We are rather more interested, as I think the travelling public are, in the state of our railways."