Westminster reshuffle fever

Reshuffle fever gripped Westminster last night after the Work and Pensions Secretary Andrew Smith quit.

Mr Smith, 53, said he was stepping down to devote more time to his constituency and his family.

But his allies claimed he had been the victim of a whispering campaign after opposing Downing Street plans to slash the incapacity benefit budget.

Former Chief Whip Nick Brown said: 'Andrew has been consistently briefed against all summer and I am certain he has taken this to heart.'

Downing Street insisted Tony Blair urged him to stay, but that Mr Smith - an ally of Gordon Brown - stood firm.

The shock resignation came amid speculation about a Government shake-up, expected later this week.

Mr Smith was given the top job in the Department for Work and Pensions in 2002 after serving as an education

minister and Chief Treasury Secretary. He was seen as a 'safe pair of hands' but critics said he failed to make an impact on the key issue of pensions.

In his resignation letter to Mr Blair, he said: 'I am grateful to you for the opportunity to have served and for having asked me to stay on. I have, though, come to this decision after careful thought and my mind is settled.' Mr Blair praised Mr Smith as 'an excellent colleague and a first-class minister who will be greatly missed'.

The Prime Minister is expected to use the reshuffle to restore former Health Secretary Alan Milburn to the Cabinet. There is speculation he may replace Ian McCartney as party chairman.