Ten days ago, as ministers filed out after their discussion on the euro, a solitary figure remained at the long oval table in the cabinet room. Wearing a dark suit, without his ermine and robes, Lord Irvine, the lord chancellor, sat silently waiting to see the prime minister.

Irvine had asked to “have a quiet word” with Blair. Westminster was already rife with rumours that Irvine would be “retiring” in the forthcoming ministerial reshuffle because the prime minister was planning a radical shake-up of the legal and justice system.

Irvine was having none of it. He had told colleagues who inquired about his future that the reports were “nonsense”. The ancient combination of the head of the judiciary sitting in cabinet, he had said, was “one and indivisible”.

Blair had other plans for his former pupil master and the man who had introduced him to Cherie. Despite their long friendship, the time had come for the parting of the ways.

Whatever the result of their “quiet word” — some say it was a row, others a fudge — the result was clear a week later. Irvine was gone and uproar erupted over the cavalier way in which Blair announced the end of 1,400 years of constitutional tradition. He abolished the post of lord chancellor — yet it later emerged that Lord Falconer, Blair’s former flatmate, would continue to fill the role for months, perhaps years, while the change is debated.

In other ministerial moves, Blair alienated some allies and promoted the less-than-glittering. He sidelined the representation of Scotland and Wales in Westminster.

Ministers admitted privately that the reshuffle was a “rush job”. Amid the shock and chaos, it began to seem like the most cack-handed for years. How did the Downing Street machine get it so wrong?

THE party was in full swing at Trimdon Labour club eight days ago when Alan Milburn sidled up to Blair. The prime minister had just wowed the crowd with his rendition of classic hits including Johnny B Goode on the guitar given to him by Bryan Adams, the rock star.

“I need to talk to you when we get back to London on Monday,” Milburn said.

“Okay, what about?” asked Blair. Milburn, secretary of state for health and a key Blairite, replied that he was thinking of resigning. He knew that a reshuffle was in the offing and it seemed an appropriate time to go.

The prime minister, who was hosting the party of 250 guests to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his entering politics, had to hide his astonishment and disappointment. Not again: after Peter Mandelson, Stephen Byers and Estelle Morris, the prime minister was about to lose another leading ally from the cabinet.

After Gordon Brown’s statement on the euro on Monday afternoon, Blair took Milburn up to his flat in Downing Street.

The health secretary explained that his companion Ruth Briel had given him an ultimatum: family or frontline politics.

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