...and the spin goes on
By Nick Assinder
BBC News Online political correspondent
Since his historic second election victory, Tony Blair has been promising to change the way his government operates.
Clearly irritated by persistent claims that he has deliberately undermined the role and status of parliament and backbench MPs, he insisted there would be more openness and transparency and less spin.
The ultimate control freak was promising to let go a bit.
It was even suggested that when ministers had major announcements to make, they would unveil them in the Commons chamber rather than to the media.
And there were some signs that this was actually going to happen.
The prime minister's official spokesman Alastair Campbell adopted a less prominent role and there appeared to be a genuine scaling down in the most blatant spin doctoring.
Cook reforms
This came against a background of reforms suggested by Commons leader Robin Cook which were clearly aimed at boosting the power of MPs and putting parliament back at the centre of British political life.
But it has become increasingly obvious that this particular old dog cannot learn new tricks.
The Jo Moore outrage in which she suggested 11 September was a good day to "bury" bad news showed that the spin machines were still operating at full tilt.
And there is now mounting anger amongst MPs that they are still being kept in the dark about major policy announcements until they read about them in their morning papers or hear the minister being interviewed on the radio.
The most blatant example came on Tuesday when health secretary Alan Milburn was forced into making a Commons statement on his allegedly radical NHS reforms.
His plans were splattered all over that day's media and he held a press conference to unveil his proposals - but he had no plans to make a full statement to MPs.
Important announcement
It was not until the Tories demanded a statement that he was forced to attend the Commons to enlighten MPs about his thinking.
It was the second time in as many days that the Tories had forced a minister into the Commons - the day before it had been Jack Straw's turn to answer claims about alleged plans to "sell out" Gibraltar to Spain.
Downing Street has attempted to rubbish suggestions that ministers are continuing to ignore the Commons.
The prime minister's official spokesman agreed Mr Milburn's statement had been "important" and declared that the minister had, in the end, appeared before parliament.
But it was clear Mr Milburn had had no intention of doing so until pushed.
The reason for all this pre-announcement briefing is simple - ministers want to get as much coverage as possible and to dominate the day's political agenda.
But MPs fear they also want to avoid the sort of detailed, critical examination of their proposals they would face in the Commons chamber.
They are continuing to demand a return to the pre-eminence of parliament - but most are not holding their breath.
By Nick Assinder
BBC News Online political correspondent
Since his historic second election victory, Tony Blair has been promising to change the way his government operates.
Clearly irritated by persistent claims that he has deliberately undermined the role and status of parliament and backbench MPs, he insisted there would be more openness and transparency and less spin.
The ultimate control freak was promising to let go a bit.
It was even suggested that when ministers had major announcements to make, they would unveil them in the Commons chamber rather than to the media.
And there were some signs that this was actually going to happen.
The prime minister's official spokesman Alastair Campbell adopted a less prominent role and there appeared to be a genuine scaling down in the most blatant spin doctoring.
Cook reforms
This came against a background of reforms suggested by Commons leader Robin Cook which were clearly aimed at boosting the power of MPs and putting parliament back at the centre of British political life.
But it has become increasingly obvious that this particular old dog cannot learn new tricks.
The Jo Moore outrage in which she suggested 11 September was a good day to "bury" bad news showed that the spin machines were still operating at full tilt.
And there is now mounting anger amongst MPs that they are still being kept in the dark about major policy announcements until they read about them in their morning papers or hear the minister being interviewed on the radio.
The most blatant example came on Tuesday when health secretary Alan Milburn was forced into making a Commons statement on his allegedly radical NHS reforms.
His plans were splattered all over that day's media and he held a press conference to unveil his proposals - but he had no plans to make a full statement to MPs.
Important announcement
It was not until the Tories demanded a statement that he was forced to attend the Commons to enlighten MPs about his thinking.
It was the second time in as many days that the Tories had forced a minister into the Commons - the day before it had been Jack Straw's turn to answer claims about alleged plans to "sell out" Gibraltar to Spain.
Downing Street has attempted to rubbish suggestions that ministers are continuing to ignore the Commons.
The prime minister's official spokesman agreed Mr Milburn's statement had been "important" and declared that the minister had, in the end, appeared before parliament.
But it was clear Mr Milburn had had no intention of doing so until pushed.
The reason for all this pre-announcement briefing is simple - ministers want to get as much coverage as possible and to dominate the day's political agenda.
But MPs fear they also want to avoid the sort of detailed, critical examination of their proposals they would face in the Commons chamber.
They are continuing to demand a return to the pre-eminence of parliament - but most are not holding their breath.
