Blair's refusal to refer to Short by name in the Commons casts doubt over her future

Tony Blair made clear that Clare Short, the International Development Secretary, had no long-term future in the Cabinet yesterday after he refused to refer to her by name in the House of Commons.

When asked by a Tory MP how Ms Short could continue in her job, the Prime Minister ducked the question, praising the work of the department rather than of his minister.

Further doubts about Ms Short's future emerged when Mike O'Brien, a Foreign Office minister, took her place to make an emergency statement on humanitarian aid contingency planning for Iraq.

Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell, said during Prime Minister's Questions that Ms Short had made a "monumental mess" of her own position. "What confidence can we have that she is now the right person to do that job?" he asked.

Mr Blair replied: "We can have the confidence in the experience over many years in which that department has gained a reputation right round the world for the humanitarian assistance it has given. That is as a result of the co-operation ... not just between that department and other government departments but with the UN and the American government."

Tories were furious that Ms Short was not in Parliament to answer an urgent Commons question on the issue. The International Development Secretary had to fly to New York for a meeting with Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general.

As MPs jeered Mr O'Brien, Michael Martin, the Speaker, said: "You asked for an urgent question, I have granted an urgent question. I am not responsible for the minister who comes to the dispatch box."

Peter Lilley, Tory MP for Hitchen and Harpenden, asked why Mr O'Brien was answering on humanitarian issues. Sally Keeble, a minister in Ms Short's department, was sitting next to Mr O'Brien and had to brief him repeatedly on the detail of the aid effort. Mr O'Brien said: "The reason I am answering this question is because I've just come back from Washington where I was discussing the ... detail of how the post-conflict humanitarian circumstances will be dealt with."

Mr O'Brien said £10m had been allocated for contingency planning. He said assurances had been received from the US that firms involved in reconstruction would subcontract up to 50 per cent of their work to firms from other countries.