- guardian.co.uk, Monday January 22 2001 10.49 GMT
A cabinet office memo detailing the supposed connections and political leanings of 28 political reporters and commentators, which has been passed to the Guardian, highlights the increasingly ambitious scope of Tony Blair's media management operation.
The government briefing paper - which also gives a sometimes waspish assessment of the journalists' prospects, influence and reliability - was drafted by Downing Street staff in political charge of the Cabinet Office-based media monitoring unit.
The unit, which was in effect transferred to the government from Labour's Millbank headquarters after the 1997 general election, provides round-the-clock briefings on the press and broadcast media to ministers, including Mr Blair.
The leaked memo on daily newspaper journalists is understood to have been drawn up by Carl Shoben and Chris McShane - who both worked at Millbank and are now No 10 political advisers attached to the unit - mainly to guide civil servants preparing daily media briefings.
Assessments in the memo vary from the unexceptionable to the questionable, with journalists' politics carefully graded from left to right.
Among those mentioned in the leaked briefing, Paul Routledge of the Daily Mirror is described as "influential in the sense that his columns appear in prominent placing in the Mirror each day" and "formerly close to Scargill, but now on the traditional Old Labour right".
The Guardian's Hugo Young is said to be "obsessed with Europe and freedom of information, but considered very influential among Labour-voting 'chattering classes'."
"Rightwing commentator" Simon Heffer of the Daily Mail should always be included in briefings because he is "taken more seriously than likes of Peter Hitchens".
