AS Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has faced public accusations of invisibility and inaction, he has privately been extremely busy setting up his boss Tony Blair's overseas jaunts.

The Blackburn MP has been ridiculed for disappearing from view while the Prime Minister plays the world statesman.

However, he spent his Christmas and New Year break doing the groundwork for Mr Blair's trip to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

On Christmas Day he was on the phone to his US counterpart Colin Powell and Pakistan's Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar.

Boxing Day saw another trans-Atlantic chat with Secretary of State Powell and a chinwag with Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh.

The so-called festive season also included several calls to the

Northern Alliance Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah to set up the vital trip to Afghanistan. But all this activity has remain secret and Mr Straw must bite his lip while the Premier garners the glory (and it has to be said recently the criticism for focusing on world affairs rather than domestic problems).

And his hard work and reticence have won plaudits from Whitehall insiders. One senior diplomatic source said: "Jack has taken a lot of flak for apparently doing nothing, but he's been working very hard.

"If the Prime Minister wishes to strut the world stage, it's any Foreign Secretary's job to sort out the details so his boss shows up in the best light. he has to grit his teeth and keep his mouth shut.

"Jack's doing all that very well -- and no doubt Mr Blair is very grateful!''

Peter Pike had a nervous day yesterday as he chaired his first full sessions on a Standing Committee considering a major Government Bill. The Burnley MP has chaired groupsexamining minorpieces of legislation and is in charge of the House of Commons Deregulation Committee -- but this was the first time in the hot seat for a major measure.

He was in charge of two sessions of the flagship Education Bill as MPs considered its provisions in detail. With commendable understatement, he said before he started:"I'm a little apprehensive...."