He added that Mr Byers did not have a veto because he would not make the final decision.. Theresa May, the shadow Transport Secretary, was accused last night of blowing the Tories’ biggest chance of forcing a minister to resign. But one relieved Labour MP said afterwards: “She acted more like a solicitor than a barrister.”The centrepiece of Mrs May’s speech was a long list of prepared questions about the details of the Sixsmith affair. But she failed to latch on to Mr Byers’ admission that he had misled viewers of ITV’s Dimbleby programme. Instead Mrs May ploughed on in the face of a growing crescendo of Labour derision, claiming he was giving “one impression when the reality was very different”.Her parting-shot was to repeat the frequent Tory cry for Mr Byers to resign over the affair.

She said: “Let him now salvage something from his shattered reputation, give the department the fresh start it needs and go now.”Mr Byers was cheered by his own MPs when he ridiculed her for a speech rehearsed before his own statement.Labour backbenchers and spin doctors alike claimed it was a crucial factor in rallying support behind Mr Byers.But Tory Central Office said last night that she had faced an impossible task and had already forced a series of damaging admissions from the Government.. Mr Byers insisted that BMW had not informed him of the decision. But BMW claimed he had been warned Rover was in “serious trouble”. Jo Moore: Mr Byers decided to stick by his spin doctor when she suggested in a notorious e-mail, revealed by The Independent, that 11 September would be a good day to bury bad news. It is a decision that has haunted him and led directly to the civil war paralysing his department. Mr Byers shifted the responsibility for keeping her in her job on to his most senior civil servant, Sir Richard Mottram.

He used the same tactic with Martin Sixsmith last week. Railways: The potentially popular removal of Railtrack from the private sector attracted fierce criticism over its handling. A complex dispute arose over the build-up to the decision. London Underground: Government policy has been characterised by delays and indecision while the confidence of the travelling public in the Tube network continues to slide. Mr Byers in effect forced out a press officer who resisted attempts by Ms Moore to rubbish Bob Kiley, London’s transport commissioner. Air traffic: The crisis facing the new National Air Traffic Service following the collapse in passenger numbers after 11 September can hardly be laid at Mr Byers’ door. But his decision to give the service an emergency £30m bail-out was shrouded in confusion. His department denied that the Government was about to throw the lifeline while its details were being thrashed out. Jobs for the girls: Mr Byers was forced to retreat by Downing Street after he tried to appoint Ms Moore’s friend, Anne Wallis, as his head of news. He had resisted the appointment of a civil servant, Ian Jones, to the post for nearly two months. The Sixsmith affair: Mr Byers’ attempt to draw a line under the feuding in his department by announcing the resignations of Mr Sixsmith and Ms Moore collapsed disastrously when Mr Sixsmith claimed he had been “resigned” against his will.. Stephen Byers, the Transport Secretary, defiantly predicted yesterday that he would remain in post “for years to come” as he shrugged off Tory calls for his resignation over the Martin Sixsmith affair.