LONDON, Feb 15: Two British government advisers resigned on Friday, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office said, after their private feud boiled over into a public row over claims that one of them wanted to “bury” bad news on the day of Princess Margaret’s funeral.

One of those involved, Jo Moore, a personal adviser to Transport Secretary Stephen Byers, had already seen her reputation severely damaged after sending an e-mail hours after the September 11 terror attacks suggesting it would be a “good day” to bury bad news.

She clung on to her job then after publicly apologising for causing “huge offence.”

The controversy this time is much less clear-cut, and seems to have centred on an internal feud with Martin Sixsmith, a former BBC reporter brought in to head the transport department’s press office.

He sent an e-mail earlier this week warning about the dangers of releasing “bad” news on the same day, Friday, as the princess’s funeral. It soon found its way into the press, causing a fresh controversy with the implication that Moore was trying to repeat her Sept 11 tactic.—AFP