Stop the feuding, MPs tell Blair

LABOUR MPS delivered a stern warning to Tony Blair last night that cabinet ministers must "get their act together" and stop the faction- fighting that has provoked the biggest crisis since Labour won power.

The blunt message was given to the Prime Minister at a private Commons meeting with leaders of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP). "It is very serious; we just cannot go on like this," one senior MP said.

The attack came as Gordon Brown admitted that ministers had been acting as though they were still in opposition rather than in government.But in a pep-talk for officials at Labour's Millbank headquarters, the Chancellor insisted the Government could now draw a line under the crisis.

When the Cabinet meets today for the first time since the Government's "black Christmas," Mr Blair is expected to reinforce the backbench demands for unity and discipline. He will order ministers to concentrate on fulfilling Labour's election promises.

However, Mr Blair will risk alienating many MPs and ministers, including his deputy John Prescott, by pressing ahead with his plans to forge closer links with the Liberal Democrats. A meeting of the cabinet committee attended by senior Liberal Democrats this afternoon will discuss a common foreign and defence policy for Europe - the first time its work has extended beyond constitutional reform. In future, the Lib-Lab committee may also debate welfare reform and the single currency.

Yesterday's meeting of the PLP gave backbenchers the chance to vent their anger over the recent ministerial feuding. Gwyneth Dunwoody, who became an MP in 1966, said: "This is the most disciplined PLP I have ever been a member of. It is a pity that the same level of discipline is not being shown by some individuals in the Government."

Kevin Barron, the MP for Rother Valley, said he had discussed the Government's actions with 50 members of his constituency party, who were all "extremely disappointed" at what had happened. Clive Soley, the chairman of the PLP, called on the Cabinet to show "self-discipline", which had not been demonstrated in the past three weeks.

Peter Mandelson, who resigned over his pounds 373,000 personal loan from Geoffrey Robinson, former paymaster-general, attended the meeting as a backbencher for the first time since the general election.

Labour MPs later urged Mr Blair to abandon any plans to give the former trade secretary an early recall to the Cabinet. Paul Flynn, MP for Newport West, said: "The party has been bruised and our reputation has been damaged by this incident. Nobody wants to have a witch-hunt against Peter Mandelson personally. He has been a very able minister and has contributed a great deal to our party. But that impression of sleaze is there and he has to have at least a couple of years on the back benches, and one hopes that that is a very fruitful period."

Jack Cunningham, Mr Blair's "cabinet enforcer", yesterday insisted there was no chance of Mr Mandelson making a swift return to office: "I don't think he's going to be back in the Government in the near future," he said. The Prime Minister also offered little hope of an early comeback when he told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The future is going to have to look after itself. I do not give any guarantees, any commitments on that."

William Hague told Mr Blair in the Commons that recent events had been a disgrace. "While the NHS has been in crisis, personal feuds have taken the place of political principle, personal loans have taken the place of political priorities," the Tory leader said. He also mocked Mr Blair as "St Tony, the Angel of Islington" after it was disclosed that the Prime Minister had visited St Thomas' Hospital at Westminster to talk to nurses the previous night.

Mr Blair admitted there were "still huge problems in the health service" but argued that it was impossible to "put right 20 years of neglect in schools and health in 20 months".