Oops! Sir Trevor McDonald misses Brown Cabinet interview for News At Ten relaunch

The Prime Minister would even allow Sir Trevor, 68, to film him at a Cabinet meeting – a first for Gordon Brown's Government – in honour of the broadcaster's special status as Britain's best-loved newsreader.

Yet when the 8am meeting took place last Tuesday and Mr Brown lined up with his Ministers, their special guest could not be found.

Sir Trevor, it seemed, was uncontactable. He had last been seen at News At Ten's first-night party, celebrating the return of ITV's flagship bulletin to its 10pm slot, and told colleagues he was heading to The Ritz with his wife for a glass or two of champagne.

A source said that frantic ITN executives had scrambled Sir Trevor's glamorous sidekick Julie Etchingham to take his place.

Yet Downing Street was not prepared to let Miss Etchingham have special access to the heart of government.

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Stand in: Julie Etchingham replaced Sir Trevor but didn't film Cabinet

She might be a talented broadcaster, TV executives were told, but she did not have Sir Trevor's stature.

A source said: "Sir Trevor was invited to film the Prime Minister hosting the Cabinet as a special favour to one of the country's most distinguished broadcasters.

"There was no way Julie Etchingham was going to be allowed to do it. If she had, then Downing Street would have had every TV reporter in the country knocking on their door."

Downing Street agreed to reschedule the interview with Mr Brown – but not the Cabinet filming – and eventually Sir Trevor arrived in Whitehall for the new 4pm meeting.

As they sat down, Sir Trevor apologised profusely to Mr Brown, explaining that it had been News At Ten's first night.

Another source said: "It was all arranged to mark the relaunch of News At Ten, so it was a bit disappointing that he couldn't get there.

"In television, you don't often get access to so many important people like that, so you have to take your chances."

ITN editor-in-chief David Mannion admitted that the time of the interview had been changed and that Miss Etchingham was at Downing Street the same morning.

But he denied categorically that Sir Trevor had missed any appointment or that he could not be contacted.

"The time of the interview was changed from the morning to the afternoon," Mr Mannion said.

"There was never a question of him not being there in the morning when he should have been."

Asked when the interview was changed, he said: "I think it was the day before."

Later, he said he was not sure when, but that the timing was changed "by mutual consent" with Downing Street.

He added: "We were never filming Cabinet, we were just there to film the Prime Minister.

"We arranged to do some filming with Gordon Brown inside Downing Street, but not in Cabinet. Just taking some shots around Downing Street so we could cut those into the piece."

He refused to say why Miss Etchingham was at Downing Street in the morning, hinting that she was working on an exclusive interview of some sort.

But he also refused to deny that she was there as back-up for Sir Trevor.

The story of News At Ten's return got worse as the week wore on.

When the interview was broadcast, the bulletin led with Mr Brown's remarks about Northern Rock, the story of the day.

But his comment that under-fire Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain was guilty of "an incompetence" over donations to his failed deputy Labour leadership campaign was left on the cutting-room floor.

Yet ITN had released a full transcript of the interview to newspapers and even sent a tape to the BBC's Newsnight – which broke the Hain story as News At Ten ended.

The shambles was compounded when the viewing figures came in.

For Monday's relaunch, 3.8million viewers had tuned in to watch Sir Trevor, but on Wednesday only 2.6million were watching – barely half of the audience for the BBC's Ten O'Clock News, which averaged 4.7million over the same period.

ITV executive chairman Michael Grade brought back News At Ten after it was ditched in 1999.

Sir Trevor signed a two-year contract worth an estimated £1million a year.

Miss Etchingham was poached from Sky News and the pair returned to the tradition of newsreading from behind a desk.

The previous news anchor, Mark Austin, received a pay rise and presents News At Ten's reports on location.