Reports suggest home secretary John Reid has got his way as moves are made to split the Home Office into two parts.
Tony Blair is thought to have given his backing to plans that will see Reid keep responsibility for security, terrorism and policing, while prisons, probation and criminal justice policy come under the control of Lord Falconer at the Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA).
The DCA has already registered the domain name justice.gov.uk in preparation for its wider responsibilities as a European-style department of justice.
Lord Philips of Worth Matravers, the lord chief justice, has already had discussions with Reid and plans are being laid within the Home Office over logos, notepaper and which staff should move to the DCA.
Under the plans, MI6 will report to Reid instead of to the foreign secretary.
Overseas intelligence staff are said to be unhappy about the change, but Reid believes the fight against terrorism will be better co-ordinated if MI6 and the domestic MI5 report to the same department.
Senior civil servants elsewhere in Whitehall are not thought to be enthusiastic about the planned split, especially after the proposal was first aired in the newspapers.
Both cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell and Home Office permanent secretary Sir David Normington are said to have reservations about the idea, but chancellor Gordon Brown has refused to take sides, despite the reported opposition of both the Cabinet Office and Foreign Office.
