THE Prime Minister will use the resignation of Alastair Campbell yesterday to relaunch the Government and attempt to win back public trust by promising a clean break with spin.

The campaign to regain voters’ confidence before the general election began within hours of Mr Campbell announcing his decision to quit as Tony Blair’s director of communications.

Downing Street said that its press operations would be extensively restructured under David Hill, the former Labour Party press chief who will succeed Mr Campbell. Mr Hill is unlikely, however, to inherit the unprecedented powers of direction over civil servants which reinforced charges that Mr Campbell was the “real deputy Prime Minister”.

Mr Campbell’s departure after nine years as Mr Blair’s closest aide comes in the midst of the Hutton inquiry into the death of the weapons expert David Kelly and Downing Street’s extraordinary row with the BBC.

Mr Campbell denied, however, that the timing of his resignation had anything to do with the inquiry or next week’s evidence by Dr Kelly’s widow. He said that he had told the Prime Minister in April of his intention to quit and the controversy over last September’s Iraqi arms dossier had served only to delay his departure.

He expects the inquiry to clear him of allegations that he “sexed up” that dossier, although he could face criticism for the manner in which Dr Kelly was exposed as the source of that claim in a BBC report. Both Mr Blair and Mr Campbell felt that if he left after Lord Hutton published his findings, it could give the impression that he was the “fall guy” for any criticism that may be levelled at the Government in the report.

A towering figure within Downing Street and across Whitehall, Mr Campbell seized control of all departmental communications after the 1997 election and has been the pivotal figure within Mr Blair’s inner circle. Although he recognises that his confrontational style and high profile had made his position in Downing Street untenable, he is likely to remain a close confidant and adviser to the Prime Minister.

Whitehall insiders said that Mr Hill’s primary objective would be to calm relations with the media and to deliver Mr Blair’s message in a straightforward way, rather than fuel an excitable press. It is understood that Mr Hill will not take on Mr Campbell’s strategic responsibilities, nor issue executive orders to media chiefs of government departments. Full details of the restructuring will be announced next week.

Spinning to the last, Mr Campbell issued a statement listing government achievements since 1997 and said that it had been an enormous privilege to work with Mr Blair. “There are huge upsides in a position like this — the people, events and places that you encounter and experience; the feeling that you are able to make a difference; the knowledge that you are witnessing history in the making. But there are downsides too and these are mostly borne by your family. The pressures are real and intense, but in doing the job you learn to live with them. It is your family that pays a price,” he said.

Mr Campbell, 46, and his partner Fiona Millar have three children. Ms Millar decided earlier this year to stop working for Cherie Blair and is thought to have finally persuaded Mr Campbell to leave as well. She had had an increasingly difficult job trying to deal with Carole Caplin, Mrs Blair’s influencial “lifestyle guru”.

Friends said that Mr Campbell was elated yesterday and he marked his announcement with an impromptu party with his staff, who presented him with a cake. He told friends later that he had felt trapped in recent months. “Now I can get on with thinking about my future,” he said.

Mr Blair paid tribute to his aide, calling him “an immensely able, fearless, loyal servant of the cause he believes in, who was dedicated not only to that cause but to his country”.

John Prescott denied that his job of Deputy Prime Minister had been undermined by the communication director’s power. “There were times I would shout at Alastair and times he would shout at me. That’s the nature of the guy. But I know exactly what I’m doing in the job. I think it’s a sad day and I’m grateful for (his) contribution to the Labour Government,” he said.

Mr Blair insisted that the resignation had nothing to do with the Hutton inquiry, but the Conservatives said Mr Campbell had had to go over his role in events leading up to Dr Kelly’s death. “Alastair Campbell was sacrificed because his position was untenable after the Kelly affair,” Theresa May, the Tory chairman, said.

She predicted that the changes at No 10 would not mean an end to the culture of spin at the heart of Government. “At Labour’s autumn conference a new and improved Tony Blair will be unveiled. His new spin-doctor will talk about his master’s renewed sincerity and focus. But it is not believable. So long as Tony Blair remains in No 10, spin will be the watchword of his Government.”

Documents released by the Hutton inquiry showed how intimately involved Mr Campbell was in every aspect of government life. He fired off lists of instructions to Mr Blair before Prime Minister’s Questions on precisely what he had to cover in the half-hour session and how he should deliver different messages. He also appeared to be in daily contact with John Scarlett, head of the Joint Intellience Committee, while the Iraq dossier was being compiled.

He is now likely to pursue a lucrative career of public speaking and as a newspaper columnist — and not necessarily about politics. As a devoted Burnley fan and marathon runner, he may prefer the sports pages.

His Downing Street diaries are, however, likely to remain under lock and key — at least for as long as Mr Blair remains Prime Minister.

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