Tony Blair has betrayed the truth and compromised his civil servants

All the evidence points to the Prime Minister himself, and - as they say in the criminal world - he has previous

Tony Blair is economical with the truth and has surrounded himself with others who are likewise. Over the past five years, Mr Blair has created a culture of mendacity and bullying in 10 Downing Street, thus compromising the integrity of civil servants.

The Blairite weasels have earned their ignominy, but one aspect of the Westmin-ster Hall-gate revelations was distressing. Jeremy Heywood had signed a prevaricating letter, in which No 10 used a newspaper's trivial error on a detail to conceal a greater truth. Mr Heywood is a shy, scholarly and unworldly fellow who lives on black coffee, cigarettes and vitamin pills – a regime which has created problems with HM Customs. As he is a lanky chap, any off-the-peg shirt which fits the rest of his frame gapes around the collar: he has been stopped at airports because he appears to have a drug-addict's emaciated neck.

In other respects, the diet works. Jeremy Heywood may well be the ablest civil servant of his generation. A few years ago, he won golden opinions from the Tory ministers he served. Norman Lamont said that Mr Heywood was the cleverest man he had ever met. Then, as any good civil servant should, he translated effortlessly to new political masters, earning further praise and higher promotion. According to his job description, he is now the principal private secretary in No 10 for economic policy and domestic issues. However, this intellectual paladin has been sent grovelling down Whitehall with a brush and pan to sweep up the Blairites' weasel dung. Corruptio optimi pessima – the corruption of the best is the worst of all.

It is true that Mr Blair has not yet used his own mouth to deny personal involvement. He has merely had his creatures issue statements on his behalf. But all the evidence points to Mr Blair, and – as they would say in the criminal world – he has previous.

Civil servants selected to work as staff officers at No 10 are usually young and bright. By the nature of their duties, they have to give instructions to older, technically senior, people in other departments. All this heady atmosphere of proximity to power can breed intellectual arrogance. It may be that Clare Sumner, Mr Blair's adjutant in the Battle of Black Rod, is not immune to arrogance.

But there are limits. By all accounts, Ms Sumner is commonsensical. So she is sent to heavy Black Rod. She fails. About a millimetre below his rapidly disappearing smile, she comes up against adamantine refusal. However arrogant she may occasionally be on behalf of the Prime Minister, Clare Sumner is sensible enough to realise that she is now fighting above her pay grade.

It is inconceivable that she would not have instantly referred her problem up the line in No 10. But for her, that would not have meant straight to Tony Blair. She would have dealt with the Deputy Prime Minister, Alastair Campbell. But it is equally inconceivable that Mr Campbell would not have spoken to Mr Blair on the subject. Not only are the two men in constant communication; Mr Blair is obsessed by everything relating to his own public image and to the Royal Family.

Mr Blair has a sub-intellectual, feline understanding of men and events, and over the past five years he has had a lot to do with senior soldiers. When he was told that General Willcocks was proving to be obdurate, he would know that he had a serious difficulty. It would be folly for him or Alastair to appear in the front line; then the matter would no longer be deniable. But the Queen Mother's funeral was a great public relations opportunity, not to be foregone. So use junior officials instead. After all, if things do go wrong, they can always be repudiated and hung out to dry, as so often under this Government.

The Blair Government does not only have a previous record in the intimidation and abuse of civil servants; Mr Blair himself has form when it comes to lying, and to exploiting, the Royal Family. During the last parliament, he claimed to have watched Jackie Milburn play football and to have tried to stow away on a flight from Newcastle to the West Indies. But when Milburn retired, young Tony was still only four years old and, at the time he claimed to have been a stowaway, he would have been lucky to find a Newcastle plane flying as far as London.

In the uncritical atmosphere of Mr Blair's early premiership, none of this did him any damage. It was seen as a mere amiable lapse into false memory syndrome. It is possible, of course, that I am being grotesquely unfair, and that Mr Blair is heroically managing to run the country despite frequent afflictions of false memory syndrome. If this is so, and if he would produce a psychiatrist's certificate to that effect, I would be happy to apologise. Until then I invite him to stand by his words and justify them.

In his estrangement from the truth, the Prime Minister has had invaluable assistance from Alastair Campbell. A judge once described Mr Campbell as an unsatisfactory witness. In training for his role as the Government's information supremo, Alastair spent his earlier journalistic apprenticeship working for red-top tabloids. In their news stories – ideal background for a Blairite – truth was an optional extra. But Mr Campbell went further. He became a devotee of Bob Maxwell, and spent several years crawling up the old monster's fundament, an unlovely vantage point.

But nothing Mr Campbell did in the service of Mr Maxwell is as squalid as the attempts to exploit the Royal Family for party political purposes. It must be remembered that back in 1997, shortly before the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Mr Blair was feeling particularly insecure. The Government had had an awkward August, with John Prescott snarling at Peter Mandelson, who sneered back. The Government appeared to be running into difficulties, and to have no clear idea of how to cope with them.

Then the political world swung on its axis. The People's Princess died, and the People's Tony took command. The Royal Family did not know how to react, partly because they were concerned with the welfare of the young princes. So Mr Blair and Mr Campbell seized their chance.

Suddenly, it seemed that the House of Windsor had become a ward of Tony Blair's court. The Royal Family would graciously be allowed to continue, but only as a political appendage of the New Labour project. As a sign of the monarchy's new subservience, Mr Blair was able to override the Palace's initial objections and to read a lesson at the Princess of Wales's funeral. He read badly, preeningly and self-regardingly – but his narcissism had been satisfied.

So it was natural that Mr Blair should try a repeat performance during the Queen Mother's funeral. This time, a Palace which had recovered its confidence resisted his intrusion, with magnificent assistance from Black Rod, who demonstrated his soldierly qualities. That is why No 10 reacted so angrily and lost contact with the truth.