Party spin doctors should develop their own code of conduct to call a halt to practices which would be unacceptable within the normal press relations industry, the head of the Institute of Public Relations has said.

Ian Wright, a former PR adviser to Paddy Ashdown, compared the conduct of the party apparatchiks with the professional government PR machine. "The Government Information Service has a very clear code of conduct and they adhere to it. I think some of the political party people would do well to set out their own code of conduct and work to it," he said.

He said his experience with Ashdown showed just how far removed party spin doctors were from the normal procedures. "When I worked for Paddy Ashdown - unpaid I would like to add - I was struck by the difference in my approach and that of one or two other colleagues who came in from outside to that of those who were full time party people. I think they did things to journalists that we would never consider trying to do," he said in an interview with epolitix.com.

Wright focussed on the ability of party PRs to use the behind the scenes lobby system to brief against individual politicians - a practice which many say has been used against the former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Mandelson since his shock resignation a fortnight ago.

Wright's call follows growing unease about the role of spin doctors in the political process. In recent weeks the Tories have renewed calls for Alistair Campbell, the prime minister's press secretary, to be removed from the civil service payroll following the prime minister's admission that he used a media briefing to attack the Tories' economic policy. Campbell, who is a civil servant, has also been accused of "rubbishing" Mandelson.

However, Daisy Sampson, press secretary to Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy, suggested that many of the traits attributed to the party spin doctors were based on "a myth" about the influence they wield. Whilst Sampson said she would accept a code of conduct in principle, she raised doubts about whether it could be applied in practice and whether her colleagues in the other parties would be willing to follow suit.