Byers tries to blame city

In a bizarre farewell interview, Stephen Byers said senior figures in the City had sent him to his downfall.

Mr Byers appeared to acknowledge for the first time that he had made a mistake in not sacking his spin doctor, Jo Moore, over her notorious email urging colleagues to "bury" bad news on 11 September.

But he also pointed the finger firmly at Railtrack shareholders out for revenge after his decision to put the company into administration last year left them staring at huge losses.

He admitted the Railtrack move was "political" - not what he had said at the time - and added: "You had a group of vested interests, including the Tory party but also some of their friends in the City, who launched the most hostile attack."

He acknowledged that the Jo Moore email was the "issue that led the media to scrutinise in ever more detail my conduct" but denied he had been forced out by the recent spate of "liar Byers" headlines.

Mr Byers used the interview in The Guardian to claim the last few months had been a "nightmare" but said he could have taken the personal criticism were it not for the damaging effect it was having on the Government.

He also came close to suggesting that his former Cabinet colleagues could also have difficulties with telling the full truth, claiming that in any long ministerial interview or statement there were bound to be "inconsistencies".

As Mr Byers took the train to his North Tyneside constituency after his carefully choreographed No 10 departure, there were reports that he had been promised a new Cabinet job after the next election.

Under a deal with Mr Blair, it is claimed, Mr Byers will serve a period of exile before returning to the front line in a few years' time.

In his farewell interview, given in the Downing Street office of Mr Blair's powerful communications chief, Alastair Campbell, Mr Byers said: "I feel upset that I have had to leave the Government. But I am absolutely clear that it is the right thing for both the Labour party and the Government and it is the right thing for Stephen Byers."

With Mr Campbell listening in, and sometimes joining in, Mr Byers insisted he was not a liar. "People will make these allegations," he said. "That's part of the problem and why I have become a liability for the Government.

"The danger is that if people have a view, then there will be a textual analysis of every word you say. You can do an extended interview for half an hour and if people then pick through it, I am sure you can find inconsistencies."

He defended his policies, including plans for railway restructuring and the controversy over threats to the Rover plant at Longbridge while he was Trade Secretary.

"I took the view that there are fixed position, there are vested interests that will resist change," he said. "There will be people who always want to stick with the status quo. But I believe you've got to challenge this and make these big decisions. In the process of doing that you make enemies."

Speaking about his time in the media spotlight, Mr Byers said: "It was a nightmare but you battle though because, basically, I didn't go into politics to muddle through and tinker round the edges, cross your fingers and hope it turns out all right - which can get you quite far in politics."

Reactions to Mr Byers's departure continued to pour in today, with his former press secretary Jo Moore describing it as "very sad".

Maureen Kavanagh, whose 29-year-old son was one of the seven victims of the Southall rail crash in 1997, saying she was glad he had gone.

But she acknowledged that he had "only been in the job a year" and said Tony Blair should have "bitten the bullet five years ago" and put more money into the transport system.

"The Labour Government came in 1997. They had the opportunity to change things but transport was not the priority," she said.

Mrs Kavanagh added that the 10-year transport plan launched in 2000 by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott was " overoptimistic".

Speaking about the Southall crash, she said: "I felt that after the failed prosecution at Southall something was wrong and something had to change in the future."

Transport expert David Begg said the Mr Byers he had known had been far from a liar and that he believed he had been allowed to go with his "dignity intact".

Where Byers went wrong
Comment: He was a symbol of spin
Exit Byers, with spin control to the end
Opinion: Mr Byers hits the buffers
Vote: Was Byers right to go?
Has Byers done the right thing?