Government's marketing chief in surprise resignation

The Government's marketing chief has resigned, three months after her job was controversially expanded to report directly to Alastair Campbell, Downing Street's director of communications and strategy.

The departure of Carol Fisher, recently described as among Britain's 50 most powerful women, shocked and puzzled Whitehall colleagues. Explaining her decision, she said the time had come for her to return to the private sector. But the Liberal Democrats warned that it raised new questions over Government manipulation of civil servants' impartiality.

Ms Fisher, 48, has been chief executive of COI Communications for three years, taking charge of the Government's £195m-a-year publicity machine. She stayed on in February after her contract ran out and in April also became chief government adviser on marketing communication and information campaigns.

The appointment was criticised at the time by the former cabinet secretary, Lord Armstrong, for creating the "suspicion, which may be quite unjust, that political considerations are entering closely into what she's accounting for". It was also denounced by the Tories as "the ultimate example of Tony Blair's obsession with spin".

Ms Fisher, who is leaving without a job to go to, denied her departure was linked to her role working to Mr Campbell. She said: "It has absolutely nothing whatever to do with it. I hope that role continues to exist because the Government and civil service needs it to ensure joined-up, strategic communications." She insisted the link between the COI and Mr Campbell had been recommended by a Cabinet Office review and not by Downing Street.

Ms Fisher is expected to return to the private sector, possibly in advertising. Seen as a "new broom" when she took over the COI, it is understood she became frustrated dealing with Government departments, whose campaigns are managed by COI. Some civil servants found her no-nonsense, plain-speaking style abrasive.

Lord McNally, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords said: "Carol Fisher survived in her new role barely three months. Her sudden resignation as chief executive of the Government's impartial publicity machine points to fishy business in Number 10."

A Cabinet Office spokesman last night conceded her resignation was a surprise. But he added: "She has done an enormous amount and wants to go back to the commercial world."