Lib Dem adviser quits government

Lord Lester was brought in as part of the PM's 'government of all talents'

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lester has resigned as a government adviser on constitutional affairs, the party says.

The peer, a human rights lawyer, was brought in as part of Gordon Brown's "government of all the talents".

The Lib Dems said he did not agree with some proposals for a British Bill of Rights and for constitutional reform.

The Tories said Justice Secretary Jack Straw's plans were in "real trouble" and the outsiders brought into the government were leaving one by one.

Last month Lord Digby Jones, the former CBI chief invited to be part of the government as a trade minister, announced he was stepping down, saying he had always intended to take it on for a "finite period".

Conservative shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "One by one the talents who were recruited into Gordon Brown's big tent are crawling out.

"Jack Straw's plans for adding yet more rights on top of the Human Rights Act are clearly in real trouble.

"His ideas will be a paradise for lawyers but, as Jacqui Smith clearly recognises, a disaster for the fight against crime."