Tony Blair should put a halt to the Labour Party's smears and dirty tricks against its political opponents, John Major insists today.

Writing in the Telegraph, the former prime minister argues that Blair must accept responsibility for the political "black arts" practised by his spin doctors.

"If the facts don't fit the argument, then the facts become flexible," he writes.

"It is Orwellian.  Words mean what they wish them to mean.  Bad news is good.  Up is down.  Black is white.  Fiction is fact.  It is no wonder that, to a bewildered public, trust has collapsed."

"The government is now so lost to political black arts that it may never be able to find its way back to straightforward dealing," he adds.