Labour turmoil: Ministers unite in delight at the downfall of a very uncivil servant

CHARLIE WHELAN once begged Roger Lyons, leader of the MSF white- collar union, to lend him his mobile telephone during a union conference in Llandudno.

Mr Lyons obliged, but was horrified when he read the diary column of The Times the next day, which told the embarrassing story of how he, a union boss supposedly fighting to save British jobs, had a foreign-made phone. "I needed the fifty quid," Mr Whelan told him.

For the press officer of one union to treat the leader of another in such a manner was bad enough; but his enemies say Mr Whelan never really changed his rumbustious style when he moved into the world of politics.

Before and after the 1997 general election, he made a string of enemies among senior Labour politicians, which left him with very few friends when he needed them after last month's sudden resignation from the Cabinet of Peter Mandelson, his biggest foe of all.

Mr Whelan knew he would be prime suspect when details emerged of Mr Mandelson'spounds 373,000 personal loan from Geoffrey Robinson, the former paymaster-general. He denies passing the information to Paul Routledge, a close friend, who included it in his unauthorised biography of Mr Mandelson to be published this month.

Whatever the truth, it suited Mr Whelan's many ministerial critics to believe he played a part in the leak. Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, and Robin Cook, Foreign Secretary, never forgave Mr Whelan for apparently "cooking up" with a journalist plans to privatise the Tote. It was Mr Straw's area of responsibility and Mr Cook is a horse racing fanatic; neither man knew anything about the plan.

Mr Cook also believes he fell victim to Mr Whelan's spin that he was "soft" on spending, as the Chancellor's man highlighted the lavish residences enjoyed by Britain's ambassadors abroad. David Blunkett, Secretary of State for Education, Frank Dobson, Secretary of State for Health, and George Robertson, Secretary of State for Defence, also suspect they were on the receiving end of Mr Whelan's spinning during last year's spending review.

Mo Mowlam, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, was furious to hear reports that Mr Whelan encouraged journalists not to give much coverage to the Chancellor's trip to Ulster last year. He apparently urged them to focus on the problems facing Mr Cook - an old enemy of Mr Brown - after he sacked his diary secretary at the Foreign Office.

Jack Cunningham had been furious at Treasury briefings against him while he was Agriculture Minister and, in his new job as the Cabinet's enforcer, was in a position to demand revenge.

Chris Smith's hostility to Mr Whelan dates back to his days as opposition social security spokesman, when he woke up to hear Radio 4 announce a policy change about child benefit of which he was unaware.

Mr Mandelson was convinced the leak of his loan from Mr Robinson was the culmination of a five-year guerrilla war against him by Mr Whelan. But this time, Mr Mandelson believes, his enemy overplayed his hand.

A friend of Mr Mandelson said yesterday: "They aimed to badly wound him, not to kill him off. But at least his resignation may not now be in vain. The fact that Charlie is going too gives the Government a chance to lance the boil."

Even ministers who have defended Mr Whelan since Mr Mandelson's departure had their private grudges. Margaret Beckett, Leader of the Commons, was furious at the Treasury's spinning against her when she was drawing up policy on the minimum wage and trade union recognition.

John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister, has mended his fences with Mr Brown but allies say he has not forgiven Mr Whelan for rubbishing his fight, when in opposition, against Mr Brown's plans to set up a "super Treasury".

Alastair Campbell, Mr Blair's press secretary, paid a warm tribute to Mr Whelan yesterday, saying he had played a key role in opposition and government and predicting he would find a good new job.

However, Whitehall insiders insist that behind the scenes, Mr Campbell, who is Mr Blair's closest aide, had persuaded the Prime Minister that Mr Whelan had to go. "Alastair made it perfectly clear he would not work with Charlie, as did other senior people in Number 10," said one source.

Mr Whelan knew he had little credit in the bank with Downing Street or the cabinet ministers whose feathers he had ruffled over the years. He told friends yesterday: "I often got the blame for briefing against people when I was totally innocent. It was because I played hard; politics is a rough game."

Allies insisted he had been thinking since last autumn that it was time to move on after five years in the "24-hours-a-day" Treasury job.

Mr Whelan insisted he had not been forced out, but had decided to quit on Sunday on the train journey back from a walking holiday in Scotland. Although he tried to avoid newspapers, his break had been constantly interrupted by speculation about his future, and he realised he had committed the cardinal sin of the spin-doctor: "I had become the story," he told friends yesterday.

Although aides of the Chancellor insist that Mr Whelan's departure was not enforced by Mr Blair, Mr Brown was in regular contact with the Prime Minister last week during his family holiday in the Seychelles, when they are bound to have discussed Mr Whelan's position.

Mr Blair is believed to have tried to persuade Mr Brown to dispense with Mr Whelan's services on at least two occasions - the first was immediately after the 1997 general election.

Six months later Mr Blair was furious when Mr Whelan's over-enthusiastic briefings about government policy on the single currency caused problems for sterling. He was spotted by the Liberal Democrats briefing journalists on his mobile phone from the Red Lion pub, his favourite haunt opposite the Treasury.

Mr Blair hit the roof again a year ago when Mr Whelan helped Mr Routledge to write an authorised biography of the Chancellor, which revealed his continuing bitterness at not becoming Labour leader when Mr Blair succeeded the late John Smith in 1994.

On these occasions, Mr Brown stuck loyally to his spin-doctor. But the shockwaves caused by the resignation of Mr Mandelson before Christmas - whether or not Mr Whelan was involved - appear to have changed the Chancellor's mind.

While Mr Brown professed publicly that he was "relaxed" over the speculation, in private he showed his first doubts about his loyal aide. "We just can't have another week like that," he told Mr Whelan after the media feeding frenzy that followed Mr Mandelson's resignation.

"Gordon had always seen Charlie as a huge asset. For the first time, he realised that he might be a liability, and that he was damaging the Government and Gordon himself," said a Treasury source.

Mr Whelan, a 44-year-old football fanatic and season ticket-holder at Spurs, was educated at a minor public school, Ottershaw, but reports that he adopted his Cockney accent are wide of the mark. After a brief and unhappy spell as a City trader, the former Communist became press officer for the AEEU engineering union, working for Jimmy Airlie, a left- wing official and his hero and political mentor. Ironically, Mr Mandelson was heavily involved in Mr Whelan's move to Mr Brown's staff in 1994, just before John Smith's death fractured their relationship.

As he successfully remodelled Mr Brown's image, Mr Whelan's relations with Westminster journalists had plenty of ups and downs. He was seen as a valuable source, and great fun, especially after a few spritzers. But some journalists complained that he was unreliable, pointing to pre- Budget steers that deliberately misled - for example, that the middle- classes would be squeezed - so that the actual event got headlines such as "Brown spares middle classes."

Such tricks worked, but Mr Whelan made more enemies. His reputation was not enhanced by a documentary in which he was filmed hectoring journalists over the phone. After one conversation, he turned to the camera and quipped: "You have to be economical with the truth sometimes," adding with a smile: "You should never lie, but it's very difficult."

Six Cabinet Members Who Felt The Lash Of Whelan's Tongue

ROBIN COOK

An "auld enemy" of Mr Brown, the Foreign Secretary believes he fell to spin that he was "soft" on spending, as the Chancellor's man highlighted the lavish residences enjoyed by Britain's ambassadors abroad.

JACK CUNNINGHAM

Furious about Treasury briefings against him while he was Minister of Agriculture. In his new job as the Cabinet's `enforcer', he was in a position to demand revenge.

PETER MANDELSON

He was convinced that the leak of his pounds 373,000 home loan from the former paymaster-general, Geoffrey Robinson, was the culmination of a five-year guerrilla war conducted against him by Mr Whelan.

MO MOWLAM

The Northern Ireland Secretary was angered that journalists were encouraged to play down the Chancellor's trip to Ulster last year and to concentrate on problems facing Robin Cook - an old enemy of Mr Brown.

CHRIS SMITH

Hostility to Mr Whelan dates back to Mr Smith's days as opposition social security spokesman, when he woke up to hear Radio 4 announce a policy change about child benefit of which he was unaware.

JACK STRAW

With Robin Cook, he blamed Mr Whelan for "cooking up" with a journalist plans to privatise the Tote. As Home Secretary, it was Mr Straw's area of responsibility and Mr Cook is a horse racing fan; neither knew anything of the plan.