MOWLAM IS VICTIM OF WHISPERING CAMPAIGN

Senior government aides are concerned that Mo Mowlam's battle with a brain tumour has left her "without the intellectual rigour" to do her job. 

Ms Mowlam was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour in 1997.  She subsequently underwent a course of radiotherapy.  Within a short time of her treatment ending, she was appointed Secretary of Sate for Northern Ireland, insisting the illness had not affected her ability to perform her job. 

Last October she was removed from the post and instead of being made Secretary of State for Health, the job she coveted, she was made Cabinet enforcer, a post for which she made clear she had no enthusiasm.  Since then there has been speculation as to her continued membership of the Cabinet. 

"The illness appears to have affected her," a senior government aide said yesterday.  "She doesn't seem to be able to do the job in the same way.  That deft touch has gone."

Although Downing Street denies that there is a whispering campaign against her, there appears to be growing dismay at what one adviser described as her "erratic" behaviour. 

Another Downing Street insider added: "She knows that she didn't get the health job because she refused to put in the hours.  Alan Milburn was, so he got it.  By rights as a former lecturer she was better qualified.  But she no longer appears to have the intellectual rigour to do the job."

A Labour insider said: "They [Downing Street] are watching her.  They are convinced she is going speak against government policy at any moment."

A senior party source said: "She refuses to be briefed, frequently refuses to do jobs for Downing Street and the Labour Party and when she does agree she can't be trusted to stay on message."

Even Ms Mowlam's supporters confirm there is a general feeling of unease because it is obvious "she doesn't know what she wants".  The speculation that she wanted to leave politics was fuelled last year when she approached Penguin Books and was told it would pay pounds 350,000 for her memoirs. 

Over the Christmas period she told friends she was "sick of going out each day and being told to tell lies" and was close to resigning. 

Yesterday Ms Mowlam was at the flat at Admiralty Arch which was recently provided for her, ostensibly for security reasons.  However there have been rumours that she and her husband were in financial difficulties.  She refused to comment on the rumours.  Her spokesman and friends dismissed them last night as an "ugly smear" peddled by people "ruffled by her style of no-nonsense politics" and popularity among the public and party members.  Her spokesman denounced the attackers for expressing false concerns about her health instead of criticising her directly.  He stressed that she was fully recovered from her tumour. 

A Downing Street spokesman said: "There is absolutely no suggestion that her illness has had any lasting effect and the Prime Minister thinks she is doing a fantastic job." However he admitted that Ms Mowlam was not being used to defend the Government in "bare knuckle" disputes, because "that is not her style". 

What concerns some ministers is that Mr Blair's decision to allow her to champion everything from drugs to rural affairs has given her carte blanche to interfere in their departments. 

While Mr Blair is known to have a soft spot for her frankness, many of his advisers see her popularity as a potential problem if she becomes a loose cannon.