Three former Cabinet secretaries yesterday questioned Tony Blair's handling of the constitutional changes announced during last week's reshuffle.

Giving evidence to the Commons public administration committee, Lord Wilson said that the reshuffle showed that constitutional changes "should be done in a way which doesn't create much of a shock".

Lord Armstrong said that there were still "unanswered questions" about the changes and Lord Butler said there should have been a green paper on the changes.

The criticism came amid further reports that the reshuffle did not go as Number 10 had originally planned.

According to the FT, the prime minister had originally intended to put Peter Hain in charge of the devolved regions, leaving Lord Falconer to take on the responsibilities of the lord chancellor.

However, Alan Milburn's sudden departure from the Cabinet meant that John Reid moved to the health ministry and Hain then had to take Reid's place as Commons leader.