The Government's refusal to field a Cabinet Minister on the BBC's Question Time programme on Thursday night unless Alastair Campbell was replaced on the panel by a shadow minister, was "absolutely pathetic", Mr Campbell said.
Tony Blair's former media supremo said: "This is an own goal for the Government. This is the week of the Queen's Speech and Question Time is one of the most important debating programmes on TV. Not to have a minister on it is bad enough, but made worse by the absolutely pathetic reason they gave.
"If you are a minister, you should be able to debate Government policy with anybody. When Labour were in power, we regularly had frontbenchers on this programme against people who were not politicians. It just shows they are incompetent and stupid."
For the BBC, which refused to accede to the request, Gavin Allen, executive editor of the programme, commented: "It is for Question Time, not political parties, to make judgments about impartiality and to determine who is invited to appear in the interests of the audience."
