All together now

Blair cabinet 'took one decision in eight months'

The cabinet took just one decision during Tony Blair's first eight months in office - to leave the Millennium Dome to the prime minister - a former top civil servant has disclosed.  

Lord Butler, who was cabinet secretary when Labour swept into power in 1997, said the new government failed to take collective decisions from the start. While cabinet government had "progressively weakened" since the second world war, he said, it "virtually disappeared" under Mr Blair.