I do not believe that reasonable people would have been misled

Stephen Byers

Mr Byers has been accused of lying to MPs by saying in February that Mr Sixsmith had resigned from his role as communications head at the transport department when this was not the case.

Last week the transport department issued a statement setting out the terms of Mr Sixsmith's departure from his job and making clear that he had not quit his post.

That led to Mr Byers going to the Commons to make another statement over the affair amid Tory calls for a vote of no confidence in the transport secretary.

'Clear picture'

Asked on Sunday why he did not apologise to MPs in his most recent Commons statement, Mr Byers said: "It would have been the wrong thing to do."

Sixsmith said he had not resigned

He went on: "If people look at the statement that I made on the 26th of February, there was nothing misleading there."

He said his statement then had to be looked at alongside that made a day earlier by Sir Richard Mottram, the top civil servant in the transport department.

"I think people get a very clear picture of exactly what happened," Mr Byers said.

"I do not believe that reasonable people would have been misled."

'Big issues'

Mr Byers went on: "We all want to move on. Martin does and I do.

Certainly politics in general, possibly the government in particular, has been damaged

Charles Clarke Labour chairman

"What is most important for both of us is that we recognise that there were differences in the department.

"The agreed statement is a resolution of the matter and now we can ensure that we follow the big issues."

The row may continue next week, however, as both the Tories and the Liberal Democrats want to raise the affair again in the Commons.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith last week wrote to Prime Minister Tony Blair urging him to give the Opposition space next Tuesday to debate a "motion of censure" - effectively a vote of no confidence - against Mr Byers.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have called on Mr Byers to quit over the affair.

'Damaged'

Labour chairman Charles Clarke said on Sunday that the Sixsmith affair had "damaged politics".

He said Mr Byers had been "very full" in his statements to MPs and that was no need for him to apologise.

"The whole exercise has raised questions about the credibility of politics and politicians generally," Mr Clarke told GMTV.

"Certainly politics in general, possibly the government in particular, has been damaged by it because if there was an impression that misleading was going on then that's damaging generally."

Mr Clarke said he found the behaviour of Mr Sixsmith, "extraordinary".

Warning

The row stems initially from an e-mail sent by the then transport spin doctor Jo Moore suggesting bad news could be "buried" after the 11 September attacks.

It then escalated after reports that Mr Sixsmith had e-mailed Ms Moore to warn her not to announce bad news on the day of Princess Margaret's funeral.

It was later announced that both Ms Moore and Mr Sixsmith had resigned.

Mr Byers announced both resignations on 15 February and made a Commons statement on the issue 11 days later.

But Mr Sixsmith insisted he had not resigned.

The row blew up again last Tuesday when the transport department acknowledged Mr Sixsmith had been telling the truth.