India's national newspaper, The Hindu, is reporting that the British Government is angry over the way BBC is presenting the war in Iraq.

A senior Cabinet member had last week made clear his irritation to the public broadcaster's political editor. John Reid, chairman of Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour Party and a member of his War Cabinet, took up the issue with Andrew Marr.

Blair's office believes the 24-hour coverage is distorting the events, and Reid is reported to have accused BBC of acting like a "friend of Baghdad".

Marr is reported to have responded that the Government was "angry that they can control where reporters go but what they cannot control is what they see".