Whitehall mandarins

Peter Mandelson: Clear lines of distinction

John Major attacks "politicisation" of the Civil Service

Labour Denies "Politicising" Civil Service

There has been controversy recently over the appointment of key party workers and advisers to posts in Whitehall. Yesterday, the Prime Minister confirmed that his government had increased the number of political appointments compared to the previous Conservative administration.

In written Commons answers, Mr Blair said 53 special advisers were being employed by No 10 Downing Street, Cabinet ministers and departments, compared to the 38 employed by the previous administration at the end of February.

Key appointments at No 10 were the Prime Minister's press secretary Alastair Campbell and Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell, while David Miliband was policy director at the influential policy unit.

The political advisers also included Fiona Millar and Roz Preston, who will share the job of assisting Cherie Blair.

Powell: PM's right-hand man

The main increase in the number of appointments has been at the No 10 Policy Unit, which now has 18 special advisers, compared to eight under John Major.

"The idea that 450,000 people are going to be politicised by the small number of appointments ... you just have to think about it for two seconds to realise what garbage it is," said a Downing Street spokesman.

He said the appointments had been agreed with the Civil Service beforehand. The Prime Minister had always said he would bolster coordination and communication at the centre.

The changes were "sensible, pragmatic and professional", said the spokesman. He also insisted that Mr Powell would remain in his post as Chief of Staff, amid suggestions that he would succeed Alex Allan as the Prime Minister's principal private secretary later this year.

Downing Street insisted that Mr Powell was Chief of Staff, and as a non-civil servant was precluded from certain activities, such as liaising with the Opposition, dealing with the Palace, and handling honours lists. Those jobs would be undertaken by whoever replaced Mr Allan in due course, said the spokesman.

The former Prime Minister John Major hit out at the growing number of political appointments in an interview with BBC's Radio World at One programme. "Mr Blair has been very enthusiastic in the scale of his appointments from the Labour Party into the Government machine," he said.

"He's appointed far more people in under a month than we had over an 18-year period. I think it is a mistake. I think many people will be concerned that this is leading towards politicisation of the Civil Service. We must wait and see how it works out but I think a particular concern is to make political appointments to his private office," Mr Major commented.