FOR her political courage in Northern Ireland and her personal courage in battling serious illness, Mo Mowlam will always command respect.

She is, however, off beam in her attack on Tony Blair's style of government.

Her affection for Cabinet government displays traditional and misplaced sentimentality, which is at odds with reality.

True Cabinet government has not existed in Britain for half a century. Figures like Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan, Harold Wilson and Margaret Thatcher did not just lead, they dominated.

To lay the blame for the demise of Cabinet government at the present occupant of 10 Downing Street is unfair and erroneous.

Ms Mowlam talks of Mr Blair acting like an American presidential figure in somewhat disparaging terms. But, in essence, the difference between the roles of US President and British Prime Minister within their own constitutions is in name only.

In a modern world dominated by global communications and mass media, we must accept that political power in any system will be concentrated in fewer and fewer hands.

The notion of genuine Cabinet government in this day and age is utterly impractical. It would be unthinkable, for example, for Mr Blair to broker peace in Northern Ireland and oversee a military campaign in Afghanistan if he had to consult his ministerial colleagues at every turn of events.