Sir Richard Packer, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture between 1993 and 2000, also claimed that Tony Blair blamed departments when things went wrong, but took credit for them when they went right.

It reminded me of the Third Reich where was over-lapping responsibilities and nobody would know where ultimate responsibility lay Sir Richard Packer

His attack came as Tony Wright, Labour chairman of the Commons public administration committee, called for a bill to sort out the problems between civil servants and special advisers.

And Lord Robin Butler, head of the civil service between 1988 and 1998, also weighed in to the debate by warning that the impartiality of the civil service was at risk by the appointment of special advisers with political affiliations.

The comments follow controversy over former special adviser Jo Moore, whose now infamous e-mail suggested that 11 September was a "good day" to bury bad news.

'Prime Minister's ear'

And Dan Corry, the former transport department special adviser, apologised after news that he sent an e-mail trying to discover the political sympathies of the Paddington rail crash survivors' group.

Sir Richard expressed concern about the way power had been seized from its departments.

"They have shaken up departments and there is a lot more power in the centre," he told BBC's On the Record.

Packer: No-one knows where responsibility lies

"In one respect - I hasten to add, only in one respect - it reminded me of the Third Reich where was over-lapping responsibilities and nobody would know where ultimate responsibility lay.

"There are groups at the centre with the prime minister's ear and I rather think that for those out on the periphery it seems as though if something goes wrong departmental responsibility is clear.

Political party employees?

"If something goes right, they read in the newspaper that it was all the prime minister's idea."

Lord Butler argued that special adviser posts should not be funded in the same way as career civil servant employees.

"I think the time has come for political special advisers, rather than being treated as temporary civil servants, to be treated as employees of political parties who are in government," he told On the Record.

"The Opposition is given money from the public purse to employ their researchers. I think for political special advisers, the same thing ought to happen in government."

Shadow cabinet office minister Tim Collins said the Tories would scrap the roles of Alastair Campbell, the prime minister's official spokesman, and Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff.

'Corrupt process'

"We would not only strip Alastair Campbell of his powers, we would make it unlawful for anybody to have those powers.

"It cannot be right for an independent, neutral civil service that is supposed to be able to work for any government of any political colour to be under the command of party political hacks like Alastair Campbell and Jonathan Powell.

"That is a corrupt process. It should be reversed and it should be made illegal."

Mr Collins said his party believed the number of special advisers should be cut by at least 25% and individuals should not be allowed to "order around" career civil servants.

But Labour former Cabinet Office minister Jack Cunningham said: "If ministers are in office and don't know how to take forward, to manage their departmental responsibilities and commitments, that's not the fault of the civil service, that's the fault of the ministers themselves."

Code of standards

Dr Wright said legislation could sort out the potential difficulties between civil servants and special advisers.

A broad framework was needed to set down in law who the special advisers were, what they were supposed to do and what happened when things went wrong, he said.

His committee is also calling for a new code to set standards of ethical behaviour, quality and safety for the public sector to be included in the government's long-awaited Civil Service Bill.

The aim is to allay concerns that the "public service ethos" is being lost as more services are contracted out to private sector companies.