WHETHER the Labour Party likes it or not, multi-millionaire novelist Ken Follett has struck a raw nerve with his savage attack on Tony Blair and his so-called spin doctors.

Mr Follett, once regarded as a loyal Blair ally, has suddenly broken ranks to urge the Prime Minister to stop the alleged Government practice of staging "secret briefings" to undermine ministers.

Naturally, Labour had to come out fighting in response to such damaging claims, and Mr Follett was duly given what might be described as a good old battering.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman Alastair Campbell accused him of a "self-indulgent rant" and Mo Mowlam dismissed as "rubbish" suggestions that she had been a victim of a briefing.

But once the predictable howls of protest have died down, Mr Blair and his advisors should sit down and question why someone who has been such a supporter should suddenly decide to blow the whistle.

And they should also accept the fact that Mr Follett isn't the only one who feels that the Government has acquired too much of a reputation for spin, just as the administration which preceded it was tainted with another s-word - sleaze.

The manipulation of the media is an aspiration of all political parties. They want as good a press as possible, which is hardly surprising.

The Labour Party understandably felt the need to sharpen up its act in that area, given the traditional disadvantages it has faced due to a Tory bias in the national press.

But there is now widespread concern that it has gone too far, to the extent that there is genuine scepticism about the information disseminated by Government.

Leader of the Commons Margaret Beckett insisted she was shocked and amazed that Mr Follett should even believe that the Prime Minister or Alastair Campbell were behind the briefings.

Presumably, she would therefore be even more shocked and amazed that the electorate might share the same view.

In the world of politics, perception is fact. And this is a perception that the Government needs to change quickly to avoid blurring the many positive things it has done.