Sixsmith in new row over 'gagging clause'

Martin Sixsmith, the spin doctor whose revelations hurried the demise of Stephen Byers, is again the centre of a row as doubts were raised over whether he would receive his promised £180,000 pay-off from the Government.

Mr Sixsmith has told friends that the deal had been fixed and the "cheque was on its way". But it emerged last night that "things have not moved on" because of government concerns that there has been a breach of the "gagging clause" designed to silence Mr Sixsmith.

His friends claim he has been the victim of a "smear campaign" orchestrated by Downing Street. Fearful that the former director of communications at the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions had a "smoking gun" story that would further damage the Government's reputation and that of the former Cabinet minister who resigned suddenly on Tuesday, it is claimed that journalists and former colleagues of Mr Sixsmith were pumped for "dirt".

And newspaper claims that Mr Sixsmith was attempting to sell his story while still a Government employee, bound by a gagging clause in his severance deal – still unpaid only hours before the deadline at midnight on Friday, were "placed" with a reporter "sympathetic" to No 10, friends allege. A final meeting to discuss the details of the severance deal, at which only six people including Mr Sixsmith, an eminent QC, two government lawyers, a civil service union representative and the former Permanent Secretary at the DTLR, Sir Richard Mottram, were present, was leaked to the same journalist.

Friends of Mr Sixsmith said the gagging clause bound both sides and there was a "certain amount of conflict between that clause and what has happened". But the Government is understood to be investigating the possibility that it could be Mr Sixsmith who was in breach of the deal. Both sides deny the allegations.

Mr Sixsmith, whose feud with Mr Byers and his former spin doctor Jo Moore caused a row in Whitehall and serious ructions in the DTLR, officially left the Civil Service on Friday.

He said he was "under a total duty of confidentiality and, therefore, could not comment in any form".

But there is concern that Mr Sixsmith should not profit from the episode. The Labour MP Geraint Davies, a member of the Public Accounts Committee, has already written to Sir Richard Wilson, the Cabinet Secretary, to protest at reports that Mr Sixsmith had been attempting to get "significant payments" from the press.

Mr Davies said he was "appalled" at the apparent breach of the deal and urged the head of the Civil Service to take action. "Mr Sixsmith's pay-off should be withdrawn or significantly reduced," he said.

But friends of Mr Sixsmith deny he has tried to sell his story, insisting he is not in breach of the severance agreement. They added that comments Mr Sixsmith made to a newspaper earlier this year went unremunerated.

Downing Street dismissed the claims as "untrue" "It's fantasy," a spokesman said.