Tom Watson to Resign as Digital Minister

Tom Watson the minister for digital engagement has decided to stand down as part of Gordon Brown's planned reshuffle after being caught up in arguments over Red Rag, a planned Labour party blog, despite not having seen the controversial emails discussing how it might work

Mr Watson was appointed as Cabinet Office minister for digital engagement and civil service issues in January 2008. He has had a more natural affinity with public sector IT issues than some of his predecessors, having been an enthusiastic advocate of government making use of web 2.0 technology, and one of the first MPs to begin a blog. He also gave active support to the campaign for wider re-use of public sector information.