The degraded state of British democracy was highlighted today by a report in the conservative Daily Telegraph that the government had been forced to deny that it had a “republican agenda.” A government minister was quoted as defending the dropping of “Crown” from the name of the Crown Prosecution Service as intended to reduce public confusion rather than assert that it was a body accountable to the people. According to the newspaper Conservatives are claiming that such name changes are part of a “touch-feely (sic) republican agenda.” Prime Minister Tony Blair felt obliged to assure Parliament that despite the new name it would be the “Crown” that prosecuted offenders. Ministers denied that there was any plan to remove the feudal “royal” association from the name of any other public body.