Minister for digital engagement to quit

Tom Watson, who oversees the Transformational Government agenda, is to stand down as Cabinet Office minister

Watson created for Power of Information taskforce

Tom Watson, the minister in charge of the Transformational Government agenda, will stand down as a Cabinet Office minister in the forthcoming Cabinet reshuffle, according to the BBC.

Parliament's first blogger and an IT enthusiast, Watson set up the Power of Information taskforce and was responsible for putting more public services online.

But he will be better known outside the IT world as the MP involved in the attempted "coup" that forced Tony Blair to announce his retirement date for the following summer.

He was rewarded by new prime minister Gordon Brown with the plum Cabinet Office role.

Some parts of the media implicated him by association with the Damian McBride "smear" emails, and his blogging activities have been light ever since.

Watson also featured in The Daily Telegraph's MPs' expenses scandal disclosures.

One of Watson's last acts was to appoint a top civil servant responsible for promoting digital engagement across government, which went to former deputy government chief information officer Andrew Stott.