Downing Street has dismissed claims it has organised a "spin doctor's summit" to prevent a repeat of the Stephen Byers fiasco.

The official spokesman, eager to close the row over Whitehall's media officers, confirmed the gathering was going ahead but that it was merely a regular monthly meeting.

Press reports had claimed the seminar was to be on "how to deal with the media when an individual becomes the story: what works and what does not".

A bemused spokesman said: "Describe it as scraping the bottom of the barrel would be unfair to barrels".

The Westminster correspondents, with the series of rows over Stephen Byers still fresh in their minds, pressed the issue.

Number 10 came under a barrage of questions over the name of the meeting and whether the title included the words "buried", "Princess Margaret" or "Jo Moore".

"The more questions you ask, the thinner this barrel becomes," said the spokesman.