'Pressure may force Moore to quit'

Tony Blair has suggested for the first time that ministerial spin doctor Jo Moore may quit over her tasteless email.

The Prime Minister said that while she would not be sacked, the criticism she has faced might leave her too depressed to carry on in her job. He appeared to lay the ground for such a move by suggesting that if she resigned it would be due to pressure from the media, not ministers.

A decision by Ms Moore, 38, to quit her post would provide the Government with an easy way out of embarrassment. The aide to Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, sent an email within half an hour of the World Trade Center attacks suggesting that it was a good day to bury bad news. The private memo was leaked by angry colleagues.

Despite her televised apology, the controversy has refused to die down. Mr Byers and Mr Blair have said that sacking would be too harsh a punishment.

However, in a newspaper article, Mr Blair said: "You know, what can happen in this situation is that [the media] then decide right, we are just going to carry this thing on, and we are going to hound and harry until presumably she feels so demoralised or depressed about the whole thing that . . ."