Stephen Byers 'Just A One-Off' Claims Blair
 

Prime minister Tony Blair today tried to reassure a nervous British public by
stating that transport minister Stephen Byers is 'just a one-off' whose
sliminess, evasiveness and overall incompetence are unlikely to be repeated
elsewhere in his government.

"The general public should not be worried about the state of the government or
politicians in general," he told reporters. "I want to reassure everyone that all the
evidence we've seen points to Stephen Byers being an isolated, one-off case. I
have not seen anything that suggests there may be a government-wide problem."
 

  Byers: 'Unlikey to be repeated'
 

But the PM's claims were greeted with suspicion by many people
urbanreflex.com spoke to.

"I don't believe him," said Barry Jones, a graphic designer from south London.
"What are they doing to make sure ministers like Byers don't happen again?
I think he's just covering his own arse."

Critics of Mr. Blair's statement point to several recent 'near-Byers' incidents,
such as a press release from Alan Milburn which was officially declared
'confusing and full of spin' and  a statement by John Prescott which a Commons
Select Committee described as 'a stream of meaningless jargon'. Both men have
been described by commentators as 'a Byers waiting to happen.'

"There is mounting evidence that this is not a one-off," said one expert, "but that
the whole of parliament is full of obnoxious, career-obsessed shits with no
integrity or any sense of public duty."

Alistair Campbell was unavailable for comment.
 

(c) urbanreflex.com 2002