The Conservative leader, Mr Iain Duncan Smith, has slammed the Labour government for its tendency to "control everything" and for "shutting down" the avenues through which it can be challenged.
Setting himself as a champion of parliamentary reform, Mr Duncan Smith described "the weakness" of the House of Commons as his biggest irritant as Opposition leader.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Press Association, Mr Duncan Smith likened the government's obsession with "control" to the attitude of an eight-year-old child throwing a temper tantrum, and claimed members of Mr Blair's cabinet gave the impression of hating each other "more than they hate anybody else".
The Tory leader's comments about Labour in-fighting came as the government Chief Whip, Mrs Hilary Armstrong, summoned the anti-war MP, Mr Paul Marsden, to a meeting following his claim to have been targeted by "thugs" on the government backbenches.
Earlier this week, Mr Marsden named five Labour colleagues he claimed either verbally abused him or, in one case, prodded him in the back following a Commons debate in which he had accused the government of "destroying civil liberties".
In an outspoken attack Mr Marsden declared:
"In a country that prides itself on freedom of speech, Members of Parliament can be subjected to the worst kind of bully boy tactics. Blair and his control freaks are out of control and will resort to any tactic to shut up their critics."
In his attack, Mr Duncan Smith said: "This is a government that believes it has to control everything or it will control nothing, control everybody or they will lose everybody.
"My answer is that's the attitude of an eight-year-old child throwing a tantrum. This is a government which sets out to control people. The result is that they manipulate everything."
The Tory leader also demanded an inquiry into the Elizabeth Filkin affair - after the parliamentary standards commissioner confirmed she would not seek re-appointment to her post, following what she claimed had been a whispering campaign against her by government ministers and civil servants.
Mr Duncan Smith said: "The very idea they [the government] should get away with having civil servants undermining her in the press would be an abuse of parliament."