"John Ashcroft resignation"

The US attorney general John Ashcroft, a right-wing evangelical who has been a lightning rod for critics of the Bush administration, announced his resignation last night.

In a five-page handwritten letter to President George Bush, Mr Ashcroft, 62, said he believed that despite the progress made at the Department of Justice, it would be well served by the energy of a new leader.

"The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved," he wrote. "Yet I believe that the Department of Justice would be well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration. I believe that my energies and talents should be directed toward other challenging horizons."

Before the election it had been widely rumoured that Mr Ashcroft - said to have something of a fractious relationship with the White House - would not serve in a second Bush term. But in the aftermath of the vote, in which evangelicals came out and supported the President like never before, there was speculation that Mr Ashcroft might be asked to stay on as some sort of payback to the religious right.

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