Foreign Secretary Jack Straw recently launched a fierce attack on the former British Ambassador to Washington, Sir Christopher Meyer, for his less than flattering opinions of Government ministers in his forthcoming book, DC Confidential.

Mr Straw's argument came too late to save him and his colleagues from the withering portraits presented by Sir Christopher - the former ambassador retired from the diplomatic service two years ago and is beyond Government retribution.

Sir Christopher still retains certain offices in public life though, not least his post as Chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) - the body set up to investigate and adjudicate on complaints from the public against newspapers and magazines.

Excerpts from Sir Christopher's book were serialised in two national newspapers, undoubtedly for a substantial fee. The editor of one of the papers sits alongside Sir Christopher on the PCC. The same papers which led the charge against David Blunkett have been largely silent about this very real conflict of interest.

In evidence to a parliamentary examination into the workings of the PCC, the PR supremo Max Clifford summed up the PCC as "nothing more than jobs for the boys, editors looking after editors".

Mr Clifford continued: "There is no one really out there looking after the interests of the public. There is no legal aid for libel. So if you are an ordinary member of the public you are virtually defenceless."

This view has been backed up by research conducted by John Moore's University in Liverpool, which found that, in the first decade of the PCC's existence, between January 1991 and December 2000, just under 23,000 complaints were received. Fewer than four per cent of them went to the commission for adjudication, and on average 1.6 per cent were upheld.

Defenders of the PCC, such as the national newspaper editors who are members of the commission, argue that the defenders of the public interest can be found in members of the commission, such as its chairman, who have no link with newspapers.

This is an argument which can no longer be made. The day Sir Christopher received one penny from the newspapers upon which he is to pass judgement, he also forfeited the right to hold his post on the PCC.

Sir Christopher's independence has been bought and sold for tabloid gold and the charge that he is now in hock to the newspapers is one which he will find difficult to refute.

Sir Christopher must resign. By staying in post he undermines the already flimsy arguments for the current form of self-regulation put forward by the PCC. With every day that Sir Christopher remains in post, the sound of mutual back-slapping and derisive laughter for the public interest will crescendo until the death knell of the self-regulation of the Press rings out.