Smith bans minister from Question Time

Phil Woolas (pictured), Labour's laddish Immigration Minister, had hoped to raise his profile with an appearance on the BBC programme Question Time this evening. However, his boss, the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, had other ideas: in a move aimed at punishing him for a number of damaging gaffes, the most recent being his call for the dis-establisment of the church and state, which is not government policy, she has banned him from going on the show.

Her decision follows a number of other chronic errors by the 48-year-old junior minister. In an interview with the Times on Saturday, Woolas berated the Government's failure to put cash into the asylum system. He also promised that his party would not allow the population to rise above 70 million. The following day he appeared to back-track on this when interviewed on television. According to Westminster sources, Woolas was "rapped over the knuckles" for this by Smith.

But clearly these dressing-downs did not have the desired effect. Because of this, and no doubt to clip the ambitious Wollas's wings, Westminster sources say that Smith vetoed his chance to join SNP leader Alex Salmond, shadow communities secretary Baroness Warsi, Lib Dem Jo Swinson and Financial Times editor Lionel Barber (not the most exciting of line-ups, it has to be said) on Question Time.

However, a Home Office statement announcing Woolas's withdrawal insisted this was not the case and that the decision to pull Woolas and replace him with Pensions Minister Tony McNulty was down to the changing political agenda. A spokesman said: "The Government decided that the economy and jobs were very live issues and wanted a minister at Cabinet level who could deal with these issues." ·