Mandelson attacks Labour neurosis

Many activists disliked Mr Mandelson's style

Former Cabinet minister Peter Mandelson has said it is time the government was "more honest" in its relations with the news media.

In an interview on BBC Four, he said Labour had become neurotic in trying to control journalists.

A month ago, Mr Mandelson said it was time Tony Blair's government put the "age of spin" behind it.

As the man who helped reshape the image of the Labour Party, Mr Mandelson had been accused by many traditionalists of putting style before substance.

'Responsible journalism'

But his departure from frontline politics has allowed him to be candid about the inner workings of the party, and where he thinks the New Labour revolution has gone too far.

There have been mutterings of a significant future role, growing after the re-opened inquiry into the Hinduja passports affair "fully cleared" his name.

Mr Mandelson has now insisted the prime minister could encourage more responsible journalism if the government spoke more frankly and more openly when releasing information to the public.

The government had to be "a little less controlling and a bit more relaxed" he said.

New Labour architects

He asserted Labour has become neurotic and defensive in power.

And he believed if Mr Blair and his ministers were more relaxed in their relations with the media, then journalists would stop dismissing what the government was saying as spin.

Mr Mandelson's remarks form part of a concerted attempt by some of the architects of New Labour to turn away from what they recognise has been an obsession with media management.

Similar appeals for a rethink in the government's media and campaigning strategies have been made in recent months by Tony Blair's personal pollster Philip Gould and the Minister for E-commerce, Douglas Alexander.