Tony Blair has effectively sacked Sir Alistair Graham, a trenchant critic of the Government’s ethical standards, as head of the sleaze watchdog.

Sir Alistair will step down as chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life when his contract ends in April after the Prime Minister personally intervened to ensure that he left as soon as possible, leaving the body without a successor.

The move has heightened fears about the future of the committee. The Government has not left enough time to appoint a new chairman before Sir Alistair’s departure, and the committee fears that it will not be able to operate effectively until a replacement is chosen.

There are concerns that a report by the Public Administration Committee may recommend the abolition of the Standards Committee, and the lack of a powerful chairman will undermine the latter’s ability to press its case.

Critics say that Mr Blair was enacting “revenge” on Sir Alistair after criticism from him over the cash-for-honours affair and the conduct of Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, and John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister.

In an interview last year, Sir Alistair said that he was disappointed that Mr Blair had not given greater emphasis to upholding ethical standards.

The decision not to reappoint Sir Alistair did not come as a surprise to MPs because predecessors on the Standards Committee have only served one term. But the decision not to keep him in place until a replacement is chosen has angered MPs.

Baroness Shephard of North-wold, the Tory peer and member of the Standards Committee, told The Times: “It is inexcusable when there are police investigating Downing Street to effectively disband the Standards Committee for a period of time by leaving us without a chairman. We have no idea what might be in store but they don’t want any more of us.”

A source close to the committee said that the Government wanted to delay the decision until Mr Blair’s successor was in place, but emphasised that there was no reason for Sir Alistair to step down before then. “Proce-durally, it stinks. It’s a huge scandal,” the source said.

In a letter to Sir Gus O’Don-nell, head of the Civil Service, Sir Alistair said: “This risks the perception, unfair or otherwise, that this Government places a low priority on the maintenance of the highest standards of conduct in public life.”

The Committee on Standards in Public Life was set up in 1994 by John Major after the cash-for-questions scandal, in which Conservative MPs were discovered to be taking money from lobbyists in return for tabling parliamentary questions. The nine-strong committee is composed of peers, MPs, academics and constitutional experts, and is supported by a team of public servants.

In a letter to Sir Alistair, Sir Gus made clear that the Prime Minister had personally taken the decision. He said: “I’ve discussed the position with the PM and he has decided not to renew your appointment . . . In reaching this decision he has been minded of the fact that none of your predecessors have served more than one term and to ensure clarity for the future he has ensured that the Chair of the Committee should be for a single nonrenewable term, thereby reinforcing the independence of the role.”

Oliver Heald, Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, said: “It is very concerning that Britain’s antisleaze watchdog has effectively been sacked for doing his job. This looks like revenge for highlighting growing electoral fraud and expressing concern over the system of party funding. I fear that this is the precursor to Labour ministers abolishing this valuable watchdog altogether.”

The trenchant critic

“ I think it is demonstrated by opinion polls that the public think this Government is as sleazy as the last. [Tony Blair] has paid a heavy price for ignoring standards”
Sir Alistair Graham on the Labour Government, May 21, 2006

“This is clearly in breach of the ministerial code”
on John Prescott’s visit to Philip Anschutz’s ranch, July 20, 2006

“I have no doubt that when those loans were being made that people thought, ‘Well, hopefully we’ll be able to lengthen the length of time over which the loan is repaid or we may be able to translate it into a donation’ ”
on secret loans taken out by political parties, Jan 18, 2007

“The Electoral Commission was working closely with the Department for Constitutional Affairs to implement and encourage the very policies that have damaged and risk continuing to damage the integrity of the electoral system”
on the role of other watchdogs in voting scandals, March 2, 2007

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