Political Focus, with Bill Jacobs

AS Labour reels from the fall-out of its latest U-turn over smoking sponsorship on Formula 1, it is clear Ministers are now beginning to learn the reality of government.

The political honeymoon which lasted until Prime Minister Tony Blair went on holiday to Italy this summer is definitely over.

The trouble over the European Single Currency and the briefings and counter briefings by spin doctors at Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street, clearly showed that a lesson needed to be learned.

The debacle over the Queen's visit to India and Foreign Secretary Robin Cook's reported comments on Kashmir showed that it was not just Chancellor Gordon Brown who needed to be careful with words.

And now, Health Secretary Frank Dobson has been forced to swallow his own.

His rushing into action over promising a comprehensive ban on all tobacco-related sports sponsorship annoyed Downing Street at the time.

This week, he was forced to send out Public Health Minister Tessa Jowell to row back from the position over motor racing.

As the Tories pointed out, this was a somewhat cowardly course of action for such a notably combative politician.

The last fortnight has seen a series of minor and major embarrassments.

Consumer Minister Nigel Griffiths - who has had a spectacular few months turning opposition pledges on issues like fireworks, cowboy salesmen and dodgy directors - into action, has run into problems. He, and several other Shadow Ministers signed a Commons Motion backing the inclusion of the Wind Chill Factor into Cold Weather Payments.

Now he is part of a government that has refused to do just that, provoking understandable ribaldry from Ribble Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans, who is sponsoring a Bill to do just that.

He also made some very rude comments about the move of Don Cruickshank from being boss of the Scottish National Health Service to Telecommunications Director General.

Last week, his fellow Trade and Industry Minister Barbara Roche made a great fanfair of appointing Mr Cruickshank to head the task force aimed at preventing computer problems with the Millennium date change to the year 2000 paralysing much of British industry.

His Government colleague Alistair Darling long ago gave up signing Commons Protest Motions, precisely for fear that they would come back to haunt him if he ended up in Government.

Perhaps that is why he is in the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Mr Griffiths is not.

But as Mr Dobson has showed, careless talk is no bar to such office, although it may cost him his job in the longer run.

Meanwhile, speaker Betty Boothroyd has been busy telling off Ministers and Government Whips over their carelessness, arrogance or mistakes.

Transport Minister and former actress Glenda Jackson had to apologise abjectly for failing to turn up to do the Government speech in Monday's special late night adjournment debate. Environment Minister Hilary Armstrong had to read out parrot-fashion the speech prepared by the Transport Department.

At least Miss Jackson did not forget to turn up for a similar close of play debate the following night, giving her the chance to grovel to the Commons authorities.

Government Whip John Owen-Jones was also forced to apologise to Betty, for miscounting by 10 the votes in the Education (Student Loans) Bill on Monday night. And Mrs Boothroyd pointedly told him: "I hope that this will not happen again."

She also told off the Scottish Office Ministers for being too slow and wordy in their replies during their special question time.

And she was making threatening noises over Trade President Margaret Beckett's refusal to answer how many days she spent in the late summer in her London office, leading to Tory allegations that she was running her department from her holiday caravan.

And Pendle MP Gordon Prentice was also having trouble coming to terms with government when he attacked fellow North West MP and new Shadow Agriculture Minister Michael Jack over the Tories' handling of Mad Cow Disease.

He accused 'The Minister' of being hypocritical, which led Mr Jack to thank him for his rapid promotion back to government.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has always warned his top team they must never be complacent.

On the evidence of the past fortnight's mistakes and climb downs those were very wise words.

For his government still has a lot to learn about running the country if it wants to do so for more than five years.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.