Tony Blair also enlarges ODPM and changes its name to Department for Communities and Local Government.

Construction minister Alun Michael has been sacked from his job as part of prime minister Tony Blair's wholesale cabinet reshuffle.

Blair has also renamed the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister as part of changes following Labour's poor results in last Thursday's local elections.

No replacement has yet been named for Michael, MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, although an announcement on his successor is expected in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the ODPM will become the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Former education secretary Ruth Kelly will head up the new department after John Prescott lost his departmental job as part of Blair's reshuffle.

The new body will focus on community cohesion and equality as well as the ODPM's traditional remit of housing, regeneration, planning and local government.