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%3Ca%20href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/" class="locallink">91热爆 News |
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Martin Sixsmith Interview
By Shaun Ley
Political Correspondent
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"I'm quite good at shorthand", the former journalist Martin Sixsmith reminded the Today programme this morning. It's something that the government might have found useful to know. It explains why he's been so confident in putting his side of the story.
The dossier detailing the contacts he had with his immediate superior, the permanent secretary at the Department of Transport, Sir Richard Mottram, will offer an interesting counterpoint to the explanation given for the confusion over whether or not he'd resigned as chief press officer at the Department on Friday 15 February.
Mr Sixsmith's interview offers some intriguing new evidence in a complex story. First, he flatly denied suggestions that he briefed journalists in an attempt to damage the former special adviser, Jo Moore. Many of his critics inside government have suggested that his resignation became inevitable because of how he had handled the row over whether or not plans existed to bury bad news on a day which happened also to be Princess Margaret's funeral.
Mr Sixsmith made it clear that he was told by Sir Richard Mottram that the Transport Secretary Stephen Byers would only accept Jo Moore's resignation if Mr Sixsmith went too. This version of events is hard to reconcile with Stephen Byers's insistence that he had no involvement with "personnel matters".
Martin Sixsmith has also opened another front against the people who are still - technically at least - his employers. He told Today that journalists had rung him about property which he owns in London and Paris. He says they told him the calls were prompted by "sources close to Number Ten."
If he hadn't burnt his boats before, Mr Sixsmith's prospects of negotiating another job in Whitehall seem to have disappeared this morning. He has chosen to come out from the shadows in which professional civil servants are expected to operate. The price he'll pay is his career. But he clearly believes that if it restores his reputation, that is a price worth paying.
LINKS
%3Ca%20href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_1822000/1822221.stm" target="blank">91热爆 News - profile of Martin Sixsmith
%3Ca%20href="%3Ca%20href="http://www.detr.gov.uk/" target="blank">DTLR - Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions
NB. The 91热爆 cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites
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Martin Sixsmith being interviewed in the studio |
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Listen - %3Ca%20href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/radio4/today/listen/audiosearch.pl?ProgID=1014730429">interview in full |
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Martin Sixsmith with the Today team |
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