IT was Denis Healey who famously said that being criticised by Sir Geoffrey Howe was akin to being "savaged by a dead sheep".

If so, being attacked by Clare Short could now easily be compared to being gored by a sharp-horned, charging rhinoceros.

Thick-skinned, always on the wild side, and easily provoked, Ms Short's condemnation of the Prime Minister will long be remembered as one of the most devastating assaults ever witnessed in the House of Commons.

The main accusation - that Tony Blair's achievements are in danger of being destroyed by his obsession with a place in history - is as damning as they come.

In other words, he has lost sight of why he was elected, and become blinded by power.

The truth is that Clare Short lost any credibility she had when she threatened to resign over the war against Iraq and then stayed put. Even if she had been repeatedly pressed to stay, as she insisted yesterday, she could still have stuck to her principles much earlier.

That said, it remains a real worry for the Prime Minister that her words will resonate around the country.

While we may draw back from the ferocity of Ms Short's thunderous charge, most of us have expressed concern at some stage that Mr Blair's Government has become tainted by control freakery.

As his local newspaper, we have warned for years that the Prime Minister should wake up to the danger that his administration would be remembered for spin rather than its many achievements.

Indeed, there was a sharp irony in the way the International Development Secretary released news of her departure, along with the devastating details of her resignation letter, to the Press Association before the Government's spin machine had time to prepare.

Despite his historic two terms in office, Mr Blair has never truly developed a rhino's skin and he will have been badly wounded by yesterday's onslaught. He will survive not least because the main Opposition is led by a man possibly more ovine than Geoffrey Howe.

But no matter how weak the threat from the other side of the House may be, the Prime Minister would be a fool not to think deeply about what one of his Cabinet members has said - and to watch his back ever more carefully in the political jungle.