Reports that the British Prime Minister Tony Blair's chief spin doctor, Mr Alastair Campbell, is to quit were dismissed by Downing Street today as "wishful thinking".
The claim by the BBC's political editor Mr Andrew Marr prompted a new war of words between the corporation and Number 10.
Mr Marr predicted there would be "a new tone, a new mood, new people inside the Downing Street press operation" by this winter.
But Downing Street claimed the report was the latest example of the BBC focusing on "gossip rather than substance".
Speaking on BBC1's News at 10last night, Mr Marr said Mr Blair met his communications chief earlier yesterday to discuss his future. "I am pretty sure now that Alastair Campbell has decided that he is going to leave Downing Street. He has told Tony Blair that. They have had a discussion about it," he said.
"There had been a thought that he would go very soon to try and get some early closure from this. Perhaps even within the next few days.
"But they have discussed this and it looks much more likely now that Alastair Campbell will stay on, in Downing Street's words, until he goes at the time of his choosing and in a manner that demonstrates that he has done nothing wrong.
"That means really the end of August, into the Autumn, depending on how long the Hutton Inquiry takes to report," Mr Marr said.
Mr Campbell was still convinced he would be "vindicated" by Lord Hutton's inquiry into the death of government scientist Dr David Kelly, Mr Marr said.
He predicted that Mr Campbell's departure would precipitate "a very radical rethink of the whole way that new Labour deals with the media".
PA
