Byers aide 'ordered leak against Tube boss'

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Byers 'forced out' top civil servant in row over spin

Both Stephen Byers and his special adviser Jo Moore were facing fresh controversy last night over claims that civil servants had been told to "spin" a story damaging to Ken Livingstone's Tube chief Bob Kiley.

Senior Whitehall sources have told The Independent that Ms Moore attempted to get press officers in the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions to put out the story.

According to the sources, she wanted to publicise claims in July that Mr Kiley's staff had doctored key pro-Government passages in an engineering report on the safety of the London Underground.

But Alun Evans, the department's Director of Communications, refused to allow his press office to be used as a conduit for such "political" activity.

Ms Moore was furious with Mr Evans, who was moved out of his job. In the end, the special adviser put out the story herself to selected journalists.

Mr Kiley and his team had told the Prime Minister that the report, commissioned from international consultants Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd (PB), proved that the Tube's engineering standards were in "disarray" and threatened safety.

But after briefings from Ms Moore, newspapers duly reported that Mr Kiley's team had attempted to make the document more anti-Government than it actually was. A principal aide was claimed to have told the report's authors that the conclusions must be made "a bit more pointed" and that some quotes were "not particularly helpful".

But even though Ms Moore succeeded in getting the story out, a Whitehall insider revealed that her conduct over the affair was the key event that led to his departure.

"This was at the time of the dirty tricks campaign against Livingstone and Kiley. She thought it would be useful to put it out to prove that Kiley was not being exactly straightforward," he said.

"The level of political interference that she tried to exert was unparalleled. But there was no doubt that she was very powerful within the department."

The propaganda war with with Mr Kiley and the Mayor of London was only one of the several spin operations carried out by Ms Moore during her time working for the Secretary of State.

Ever since he first emerged as one of the most New Labour of New Labour politicians, Mr Byers has long impressed those around him with his media skills.

It was as the Opposition spokesman on Education and Employment that the then Wallsend MP made his name alongside Alan Milburn as one of the party's most efficient and effective operators.

Having backed Tony Blair early on in his leadership bid, Mr Byers worked with Mr Milburn in running the Tory Government ragged on a range of issues, quoting statistics from the House of Commons library and outmaneouvering ministers on the airwaves.

However, Mr Byers made his first significant media slip-up during the TUC conference in 1996, when he confided in journalists at dinner that Labour was about to "break the links with the unions altogether".

But although the incident caused a fuss, in private it was clear that the elevation of the minister-to-be had not been knocked off course.

On Labour's victory in 1997, he rose quickly from Schools minister, through the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury until he reached the Cabinet as the Trade and Industry Secretary.

It was during his time at the DTI, backed by Ms Moore, that Mr Byers proved just how effective a media operator he really was, frequently briefing journalists about his pro-euro credentials.

Once in his new post at the DTLR, Mr Byers continued his pro-active media relations, making sure stories such as key homes for nurses and policemen got on the front pages,

But it was his fight with Mr Livingstone that posed the biggest challenge and he was determined not to lose out in the propaganda war against one of the best media performers in politics.