'Blair failed to live up to hard line on sleaze'

The "sacked" sleaze watchdog Sir Alistair Graham today accused Tony Blair of failing to clean up politics.

In his final report as chairman of the committee of standards in public life, he said the Prime Minister had not lived up to New Labour's rhetoric of being "purer than pure".

He said his "greatest regret" was that Mr Blair had not made high ethical standards a priority - with the result that public faith in the country's political leadership had been damaged.

"All the available research shows that it is better for leaders of organisations to say nothing at all about ethical behaviour, than to make bold statements and then fail to follow these through in their subsequent actions and decisions," he said.

"There is an important lesson here, I believe, for the Government."

Sir Alistair's criticisms come after a string of scandals, from cash for peerages to allegations of election fraud.

A frequent critic of Labour's failures to act on his committee's suggestions, Sir Alistair leaves his post next month after Mr Blair refused to reappoint him for a further term, effectively sacking him.

Writing in the foreword to today's report, he said he had briefed senior figures of the three main political parties, including Gordon Brown, on ways to restore faith in the political process.

David Cameron's Conservatives signalled that they would adopt many of his recommendations. Their "democracy taskforce" headed by Kenneth Clarke proposed a new code for ministers and stricter watchdogs.

Allies of Mr Brown said the Chancellor was planning a range of constitutional reforms to demonstrate a clean break with the Blair years this summer. That will probably include more openness about ministerial interests and stronger powers for the Commons to vote before war is declared. Sir Alistair went on: "The restoration of trust between public and politicians and the political process is now a central issue of political debate."

His report called for a shorter and tougher code of conduct for ministers. An independent investigator would report to the public on whether rules had been broken, ending the current system where Mr Blair is the final arbiter.

Ministers could be served with "yellow cards" where they had partly broken the rules but did not deserve to be fired, ending a situation where the Prime Minister declared his Cabinet colleagues to be entirely innocent unless a major culpability was proved.

He also highlighted alleged abuse of MPs' expenses saying allegations were "attracting too much attention for the good of the body politic and have the potential for a corrosive effect".

Rather than suspecting widespread rulebreaking, he said Parliament was letting itself down by covering up what actually happens to public funds.

A new prime minister should also bring in a Civil Service Bill to safeguard the independence of Whitehall, he urged.

Sir Alistair, who has clashed repeatedly with Mr Blair because of Labour's refusal to follow his committee's independent advice, admitted he had been "particularly forceful and at times plain-spoken. Given the circumstances I have faced, I make no apologies for this."