Byers faces new Commons grilling

Stephen Byers was facing a grilling in the Commons today as the crisis in his transport department claimed another scalp.

Ian Jones, deputy to the ousted press chief Martin Sixsmith, was suspended on full pay following an investigation into the department. The inquiry has centred on the leaking of an email that caused the downfall of both Mr Sixsmith and Mr Byers's spin doctor Jo Moore.

As the Transport Secretary prepared to face MPs in the Commons for the first time since he made his initial statement over the affair, questions over the investigation were expected to dominate the debate.

The investigation, by Permanent Secretary Sir Richard Mottram, has uncovered open warfare between civil servants, press officers and spin doctors. Phone records are being checked, to look at which journalists were being called, and one press officer described the atmosphere in the office as one of "complete paranoia".