IT'S no secret John Humphrys views Government ministers in much the same way as a dog looks upon a bone.

But even his own bosses admit he did not play by the rules in a recent mauling of Redditch's Jacqui Smith.

Jacqui was booked to appear on Radio Four's Today programme to discuss claims that untrained social workers had ignored claims of child abuse.

But the subject soon turned to the controversial MMR vaccine - and whether the Health Minister's two children had had it.

Jacqui stuck to the Tony Blair line of a dignified no comment. But Mr Humphrys did not gain his reputation by taking no for an answer.

And, when she still refused to answer, he accused her of being "holier than thou".

Downing Street and Jacqui's boss, Alan Milburn, were reportedly livid.

Now Today editor Rod Liddle has admitted a mistake was made. He said: "We should have told her we wanted to discuss MMR. It was a one-off incident and we just forgot."