Sixsmith to make TV film on Labour spin in Whitehall

Martin Sixsmith, the former communications director to Stephen Byers, is to return to haunt his old boss by making a television film on claims that the Government has politicised the Civil Service.

Mr Sixsmith, a former senior BBC correspondent, is to resume his television career next month after he formally leaves the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DETR), where he was embroiled in a bitter power struggle between fellow civil servants and Jo Moore, a former special adviser to Mr Byers.

The announcement on Tuesday that Mr Sixsmith was to leave the DETR provoked allegations that Mr Byers had misled MPs in February by saying wrongly that his communications chief had already agreed to resign.

Mr Sixsmith, who received a £180,000 pay-off from the Government, is to make a one-hour film for Blakeway Productions, which will be screened on Channel 4 later this year. It will look at allegations that Labour has politicised Whitehall by giving more power to the growing number of special advisers to ministers than politically neutral officials. The communications directors in most government departments have been moved or have resigned since Labour came to office in 1997.

Mr Sixsmith said yesterday: "This is not a film about my personal agenda. My experience gives me a locus on the relationship between politicians and the Civil Service. But I want to examine the broader concerns that have been expressed that the current Labour government is undermining the role of the Civil Service in pursuit of its political objectives."

Mr Sixsmith signed a "silence clause" as part of his severance package but may feel he can speak about his own experience after he accused Mr Byers of breaching the agreement by discussing the affair during a Commons statement on Thursday.

Tomorrow a cabinet minister will acknowledge that the continuing controversy surrounding Mr Byers has damaged the Government. Charles Clarke, the Labour Party chairman, will tell GMTV's Sunday Programme: "I suppose politics in general, possibly the Government in particular, has been damaged by it because if there is an impression that misleading is going on, then of course that's damaging generally."

Mr Clarke will defend Mr Byers and criticise the media for the "extraordinary" amount of coverage given to the affair. "Mr Sixsmith obviously had his own agenda in this situation which he's entitled to have, but I don't think that the story in any sense warrants the level of attention that it's been given," he will say.

Yesterday Robin Cook, the Leader of the Commons, dismissed the continuing attacks on Mr Byers as "Westminster village gossip". He did not have the "slightest doubt" that Mr Byers had the full confidence of Tony Blair.

"There is nothing to regret," Mr Cook told BBC Radio 4. "Mr Byers and his statements have been totally consistent and what he is doing at the Department of Transport is a good job and it is on the basis of that job that we will be judged at the next election."

Iain Duncan Smith, the Tory leader, tabled a Commons motion of censure, calling for Mr Byers' salary to be cut. It is expected to be debated on 21 May.