JOHN ASHCROFT, the controversial US Attorney-General, and Don Evans, the US Commerce Secretary, last night became the first members of President Bush’s Cabinet to bow out of a second term.

Mr Ashcroft, a hate figure among Democrats for his crackdown on civil liberties after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, has been unwell for some months, although he was thought a likely candidate for the chop in a reshuffle.

Mr Ashcroft, a former Missouri senator and governor, used a five-page handwritten letter to Mr Bush to claim victory in his front on the War on Terror. “The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved,” he said.

Mr Evans is a long-time friend and former drinking buddy of Mr Bush who played a key role in his conversion to teetotalism and religion.

He ran a Texas oil and gas company before joining the Bush Administration, and managed Mr Bush’s first presidential campaign. His name has been linked with a possible vacancy in the US Treasury if Mr Bush decides to dismiss John Snow, the Treasury Secretary, but Mr Evans has made clear for some time that he wants to return to Texas after four years in Washington.

The White House has so far made public one decision about Mr Bush’s second- term team, announcing that Andrew Card, the Chief of Staff of the past four years, has agreed to remain in the job.

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