The Home Office will investigate reports that Louise Casey, the head of the Government's antisocial behaviour unit, delivered an after-dinner speech in which she swore, praised drinking and criticised the working culture of Downing Street.

Ms Casey, 38, who reports directly to the Prime Minister, was allegedly recorded making her remarks after a dinner organised by the Home Office for senior police officers on June 7. Witnesses said her audience was shocked and that many walked out.

According to a tape recording obtained by several newspapers, Ms Casey said that concerns over binge drinking were "nonsense" and that ministers would work better if they were "pissed".

"I suppose you can’t binge drink anymore because lots of people have said you can’t do it. I don’t know who bloody made that up, it’s nonsense," she is reported to have said.

"Doing things sober is no way to get things done," Ms Casey went on. "I've tried to explain that to ministers but they don't get it. Turn up in the morning pissed. You might cope a bit better, love."

Alcohol-fuelled violence is one the Government's main targets in its attempts to improve behaviour on Britain's streets.

Descriptions of Ms Casey's comments caused alarm at the Home Office this morning. Sir John Gieve, the Home Office permanent secretary, will investigate whether they are accurate.

"Louise Casey is achieving a great deal in leading the campaign to tackle antisocial behaviour," a Home Office spokesman said. "But, like all Home Office employees, she is subject to the Civil Service Code . We are looking into her reported remarks."

Section 9 of the Civil Service Code says civil servants "should conduct themselves in such a way as to deserve and retain the confidence of Ministers or Assembly Secretaries and the National Assembly as a body".

Ms Casey, who is the former deputy director of Shelter, a charity for the homeless, and known for her direct manner, has recently enjoyed a speedy rise to become the top civil servant running the Government's anti-yobbery policy.

In 2002, Ms Casey became the first head of the Government's antisocial behaviour unit. Last month, Downing Street announced that Ms Casey would report directly to the Prime Minister amid rumours that Mr Blair has lost confidence in the ability of the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke, to fulfil Labour's promise to instil a culture of respect in British society.

Ms Casey's alleged remarks on the working culture of Downing Street and the highest realms of the Home Office were particularly scathing.

"I remember the first time I did a meeting with a minister. It was like something out of Acorn Antiques. Honest to God. The most powerful person in that room is Betsy who brings the tea around," Ms Casey is reported as saying.

Ms Casey is said to have reserved special scorn for the jargon of Downing Street and its demands for so-called "evidence-based policy":

"There is an obsession with evidence-based policy. If Number 10 says bloody evidence-based policy to me one more time I'll deck them one."

Ms Casey's alleged comments attracted immediate criticism from the Conservative Party.

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary said: "It is ironic that the official Tony Blair has appointed to report to him on antisocial behaviour appears to be an advocate of binge drinking. Maybe this explains why alcohol-related violent attacks are up 25 per cent and why Labour are so keen to unleash 24-hour drinking."

Harry Fletcher, Assistant General Secretary of the National Association of Probation Officers, also questioned the wisdom of what he described as an "attempt at humour".

"These comments by Louise Casey are certainly inappropriate; inappropriate comments to be made by a civil servant, never mind one who is heading up the antisocial behaviour unit," he told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme."

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