Clarke to make clean sweep at Home Office

Charles Clarke is expected to unleash a clear-out of civil servants at the Home Office in the wake of the David Blunkett affair.

Whitehall officials are convinced the combative minister wants to replace key managers at all levels to change what he regards as a weak administration.

A reorganisation could be signalled as early as next week when the Budd inquiry is expected to criticise some officials over the "Nannygate" scandal. Staff fear anyone tainted will be moved to new posts. Some reports suggest at least five officials in the immigration department and Mr Blunkett's private office were at the centre of the inquiry.

The new Home Secretary has made no secret in the past of his disdain for the Home Office civil servants he dealt with when he was Jack Straw's deputy during Labour's first term.

He felt that although the department contained many individuals of outstanding talent, they were held back by a pessimistic culture that saw problems as insoluble and policies as unimprovable.

Mr Clarke's father was a Treasury mandarin and he has a greater understanding of how a large bureaucracy works - or fails - than most ministers.