Row erupts over new No10 media chief

Downing Street today prepared to defy criticism and name a veteran of spin with links to the Hinduja brothers as the Government's new communications chief.

The appointment of Howell James, 50, for the new post of permanent secretary in charge of Government communications, as revealed in the Standard last night, was strongly criticised by the Tories and, privately, by some ministers and civil servants. Others welcomed the appointment of a "big player" from outside Whitehall who, they said, would give the communications machine a much needed shakeup. But the real problem for the Prime Minister was that the choice reopened the bitter feud between supporters and opponents of Peter Mandelson.

There were immediate suspicions of the links between Mr Mandelson and Mr James, close friends who were linked during the Hinduja "cash for passports" affair which led to Mr Mandelson's resignation.

Some posed wider doubts over how a figure so linked to the era of spin could fill Mr Blair's stated intention of appointing a civil servant tasked to put an end to the spin era.