Media on 'edge of insanity', says Blunkett

David Blunkett fuelled the row between the Government and journalists yesterday by accusing the media of being "almost on the edge of insanity".

The Home Secretary's outburst caused concern at Downing Street because it derailed Tony Blair's attempt to switch the media spotlight back to policies after a series of damaging rows about "spin".

Although Mr Blunkett's aides suggested later that he had been joking, his off-the-cuff remarks took the strained relationship between the Government and the media to a new low. He told a conference on criminal justice: "I have the misfortune every day – and I shouldn't really do it – to read Britain's newspapers and commentaries and leader writers, and we are almost on the edge of insanity."

The Home Secretary, who has been criticised by the Tories for launching some 50 initiatives since last year's general election, complained that discussing an idea that had been raised before led to accusations of spin and recycling. He said: "We really are going crackers."

He said he was considering "hiding myself away" in the Home Office to live a "hermit-like" existence to avoid the "abuse and ridicule" of the press by making only occasional announcements.

Mr Blunkett criticised reports in yesterday's newspapers about his decision to scrap plans for a so-called snooper's charter allowing more public bodies access to private e-mail and telephone records.

He said: "I read a [newspaper] leader this morning that I had made a decision yesterday because my son had told me to, when what I actually said was I had a son and he was interested in what I was doing as well, which I thought made me a human being, but apparently it did not."