'Sussex mafia' at the heart of government

They are unelected advisers hand-picked by the Prime Minister.

Few people in Newick would recognise the name Anji Hunter.

She is not an MP or a high-profile public figure, but she is rated the second most powerful woman in Downing Street.

And she is quietly living in their midst.

Also living in Sussex is Lance Price, the Labour director of communications.

His name rarely appears in print - yet he will orchestrate the party's Election campaign from Millbank.

Angela Goodchild, a former director of the Zap, works in the Prime Minister's political office.

Add to this Lord Bassam, the former leader of Brighton and Hove Council.

He has never sat in the Commons as an MP but is now a Government minister in the House of Lords, taking responsibility for Home Affairs.

The list is impressive and should guarantee Sussex gets a fair hearing inside the corridors of power.

But it is also controversial because none of them is elected and therefore not directly accountable to the public.

So who are they? And what do MPs think about unelected figures having direct access to the most powerful ear in politics?

Anji Hunter, a graduate of Brighton Polytechnic, is Tony Blair's special assistant and "gatekeeper". She decides who gets in to see the premier and who does not.

The mother-of-two is also the PM's unofficial adviser on "middle-England".

If Mr Blair wants to know what the people of Sussex are thinking, he asks Anji.

He is also reported to have taken heed of her advice over one of the most crucial decisions he has faced.

Many Cabinet ministers wanted him to press ahead with carefully-laid plans for a May 3 General Election.

Ms Hunter, along with Cabinet Office Minister Lord Falconer and his private pollster Philip Gould, favoured a delay. A fortnight ago he announced the local elections - and therefore the Parliamentary poll - had been pushed back to June 7.

Her influence stems from the fact she is one of Mr Blair's oldest friends.

They met more than 30 years ago at school and she has worked for him longer than anybody else.

Ms Hunter worked for him part-time while reading English and history at Brighton. She has held various posts in his office on and off ever since.

Her current role is already said to place her in the same league as two better-known members of the Blair inner-circle - Press secretary Alastair Campbell and chief of staff Jonathan Powell.

However, her powers look set to increase even further after the General Election if Labour wins.

Speculation at Westminster is that Ms Hunter, married to landscape gardener Nick Cornwall, will be made Mr Blair's political secretary. This would make her the official equal of Mr Campbell and Mr Powell - allowing her to manage civil servants.

When Labour took office in 1997 the Civil Service Order in Council was amended to allow three special advisers executive powers. Only Mr Campbell and Mr Powell hold them at present - leaving one slot open for Ms Hunter. The appointment would be controversial, given concerns about the level of power the two men have enjoyed.

The cross-party commons Public Administration Committee recently said the posts should not be extended and suggested the powers should be reviewed after the Election.

Senior civil servants are said to want the powers terminated, yet Mr Blair is still tipped to press ahead with Ms Hunter's promotion.

Lance Price is a former BBC journalist who took up a role in the Downing Street Press office after the landslide Election victory.

He switched over to run the Millbank Press machine at the start of 2000 and wields considerable power.

He is not in the same league as "heavyweight" Ms Hunter, but is ranked as at least a "middleweight" by senior political journalists.

Mr Price is in regular contact with the Blair inner-circle and will have a senior role in managing media during the Election campaign.

One famous example of his worth to New Labour concerns the defection of Tory MP Shaun Woodward.

Along with Mr Campbell and Peter Mandelson, he pulled off a huge coup in secretly luring the front bench spokesman over to the party.

Mr Price has said he is not the only Sussex resident working in Millbank - although he refused to give details. There was, he privately joked, a "Sussex mafia" at the party's HQ.

Lord Bassam's powers are more conventional, but still worthy of note. He was made a life peer by the Prime Minister in 1997 so he could become a minister in the Lords - levering him in above existing peers.

He is part of the Home Office ministerial team and the official spokesman in the Lords.

Mr Blair is not the first PM to appoint ministers in this way, but has used it more frequently than his predecessors.

Lewes MP Norman Baker is one of many people concerned about the increase in the powers of unelected advisers.

He is worried MPs are being pushed to one side and has raised the issue in the Commons - earning him praise from former prime minister John Major.

The Liberal Democrat MP said: "There is a place for personal advisers, but my concern is the extent of the powers they have. They have got more power than rank and file MPs. The least powerful people in the Commons are the back-bench Labour MPs, who cannot exert direct influence over policy but have to keep their mouths shut in public.

"It is true to say that Parliament as a whole has become less powerful, compared to the Executive."

Brighton Kemp Town MP Des Turner is not overly worried.

He said: "There is a risk of advisers supplanting MPs by getting between them and the Prime Minister.

"It is very difficult to judge when or whether that is happening. But I do not think Tony Blair has allowed that to happen. We do have regular meetings with Tony and it is not too difficult to get access to him.

"People in the Prime Minister's private office will always have a certain amount of power and influence. But I do not think there is anything sinister about it. They try to run a formidably efficient office, where is the crime in that?"

He said that when Mr Blair was scheduled to visit Brighton, he asked local MPs to brief him on local issues. This was normally done through conversations with Anji Hunter.

Story by James Slack