Byers forced to drop job for 'crony'

Transport Secretary Stephen Byers was this afternoon forced into a humiliating climbdown after he was accused of trying to fix a top Whitehall job for a friend of his controversial political adviser Jo Moore.

For seven weeks Mr Byers blocked the appointment of career civil servant Ian Jones as his department's head of media. Instead he pressed for the post to go to outsider Anne Wallis.

This afternoon, however, hours after the affair hit the headlines, Mr Jones was abruptly confirmed in the position.

The move appeared to be the result of direct pressure by Downing Street, appalled at the prospect of yet another row over spin engulfing Mr Byers and Ms Moore. Ms Wallis and Ms Moore worked together at lobbying firm Westminster Strategy. And it was Ms Wallis, 29, who helped smuggle Ms Moore out of the back door of the Transport Department when Mr Byers's spin doctor was besieged by the media over her notorious attempt to "bury" a piece of bad news on 11 September.

The Permanent Secretary, Sir Richard Mottram, was called in to adjudicate on what some in the department say had become an issue of principle involving the politicisation of the civil service. The Transport Secretary is said to have had a "blazing row" with his communication chief Martin Sixsmith. Mr Jones, who already works in the department's press office, was interviewed by an independent Civil Service Commission for the job of Mr Sixsmith's deputy. Although one well-informed source said today that he came out ahead of the other candidates "by a mile", Mr Byers is said to have insisted the job go to Ms Wallis and threatened otherwise to cut the Communications Directorate budget by £250,000.

Today's decision looks certain to put another dent in Mr Byers's already damaged authority and put another question mark over his judgment and that of Ms Moore.

The Conservatives seized on the affair to renew their attacks on Mr Byers, whom they have identified as the Government's weakest link. Tory MPs demanded an emergency Commons statement while shadow transport secretary Theresa May urged Cabinet Secretary Sir Richard Wilson to launch a formal investigation. In a letter to him, she said Mr Byers may have breached three Whitehall rulebooks.

Ms Moore first came to prominence over her email suggesting to a colleague that 11 September was a good day to bury bad news. After Mr Byers fought to save her job, Tony Blair eventually decreed that no one should be sacked for "one mistake". Ms Moore made a lengthy public apology.

Within weeks, however, she was in trouble again after sensitive minutes of a critical meeting between Mr Byers and the boss of Railtrack were sent to a limited number of newspapers on the day Chancellor Gordon Brown delivered his pre-Budget report to the Commons.

Ms Wallis earned a reputation for straight talking as press adviser for the Government's Rough Sleepers' Unit.

After leaving Westminster Strategy she worked with the unit's director, Louise Casey.

One observer described her as "brash and no-nonsense, but she could also be extremely helpful".