TESSA JOWELL was accused last night of threatening the independence of Arts Council England with unprecedented “nanny-state” interference.

Sir Christopher Frayling, the council’s chairman and one of the senior figures in the arts world, attacked the Culture Secretary’s apparent amputation of the traditional “arm’s length” principle. Formulated soon after the council was founded in 1945, this has meant that, although funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the council is independent of government.

Delivering a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts to an audience that included Ms Jowell, Sir Christopher said: “Technically, we are known as a non-departmental public body. The Government evolves the policy framework but it is not supposed to interfere with implementation. The DCMS is becoming more hands on. Our independence is less well understood.”

The Arts Council was increasingly seen as part of government, he said. “The length of the arm has become very short indeed, almost Venus de Milo length.”

The Arts Council, he said, was a buffer between individual artists or organisations and government in order “to champion creative independence and to insulate politicians from direct decisions about individual artistic choices”.

Sir Christopher singled out letters received after a spending review, when the department informs the Arts Council what its grant-in-aid will be for the next three years. He said: “These used not to contain a great deal of detail. In 2000, the settlement letter was three pages long. In 2004, Tessa Jowell wrote seven pages, with ring-fencing of sections of the budget for specified purposes.”

A government spokesman said: “Support for the arts has been outstanding in recent years. As a public body, Arts Council England has to ensure their activities are aligned with public policy.”

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