THE thread that binds New Labour is unravelling at an alarming rate now its chief spinners are at loggerheads.

Peter Mandelson, ruthlessly despatched from power last week by his old friend Tony Blair, could have departed in dignified silence. Instead, he chose to squeal "it's not fair" in an article for a Sunday newspaper.

Meanwhile, Alastair Campbell, the only man who can match Mr Mandelson's dexterity at the spinning wheel, was busily stitching him up. The Prime Minister's official spokesman told journalists that the former Northern Ireland Secretary had become "slightly detached". Later he expressed outrage that those same journalists had interpreted his words as an attack on Mr Mandelson's fitness for office.

This childish spat is the perfect tonic for the Tories perhaps just three months before the next General Election. Leader William Hague has landed few effective punches on the Government. Now he can step to the fringe of the Westminster playground and watch Labour's heavyweights slug it out between themselves.

Mr Blair thought he had drawn a line under the issue last week. But Mr Mandelson's hurt pride and Mr Campbell's clumsy defensiveness have provided fresh impetus to the row.

New Labour won overwhelming support at the last election because it was united and the Conservative Party was in a state of civil war. Messrs Mandelson and Campbell worked tirelessly to bury the differences within the party.

Now Mr Mandelson has abandoned his own first rule of politics: party discipline comes first. The in-fighting has been exposed. It could well cost his New Labour project dear.

Furthermore, thanks to his original dissemination, a whiff of corruption now clings to this Government. The "passports for favours" affair threatens to associate ministers with the sort of sleaze that crippled the last administration.

Mr Blair has rejected calls for a change to the ministerial code of conduct. He should reconsider. A tightening of the rules may be the only way to bring his bickering colleagues back under control.

Updated: 11:03 Monday, January 29, 2001