TONY Blair has been asked to investigate a matter of "towering importance" to the citizens of Worcester - allegations the city council has been rather creative with the results of a satisfaction survey.

The Prime Minister has been contacted by Roger Nall, the editor of a newsletter called The Messenger.

In a letter to Mr Blair, Mr Nall is honest enough to admit the contents of a city council Press release are "trivial in stature to your normal business".

But the council "exaggerating the level of satisfaction" of residents is a big deal in Worcester, he says.

"I should be most obliged if you could find the time to read the back page article entitled Your Obedient Servant in our parish magazine and let us know your views about truth and Government targets in local government," Mr Nall adds.

It certainly is an interesting read. The crux of Mr Null's complaint is the council's interpretation of a recent postal survey sent to householders across the city.

The headline on a council Press release said: "Ninety-one per cent expressed satisfaction with the overall waste collection service."

The actual results said that 44 per cent were "very satisfied", while 47 per cent were "fairly satisfied".

Mr Nall's article states: "Fairly means 'somewhat', not 'fully'. It is cheating to pretend they were satisfied.

"They did the same with overall performance. A mere five per cent were 'very satisfied', so they lumped them with the 54 per cent, who said they were only 'fairly satisfied', and claimed that 59 per cent expressed satisfaction with the way the council runs services."

Mr Nall has raised the issue with council leader Stephen Inman, who "couldn't see any difference between being 'satisfied' and 'fairly satisfied'."

So Mr Nall gave him the choice of a painful injury or a very painful one.

"He then saw the point and accepted the results were misrepresented. I suggested that now he knew the claims to be false, as our elected councillor he had no choice but to tell the truth," he writes.

"He said he agreed with the sentiment but the office of teh Deputy Prime Minister had approved the same strategy for all councils, and they had to stick with them to secure their position in the league table.

"I said I should be pleased to be able to report he'd had the courage to place truth before expediency, but he said he would not be raising the issue at the relevant cabinet meeting."

Over to Mr Blair, then.