Tories turn up heat over smears row

Apr 13 2009

Gordon Brown is facing demands for a personal apology over "smeargate" as the row threatened to drag in one of his ministers.

Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson was forced to deny helping to prepare sleazy and unfounded stories in a bid to damage senior Tories.

His rebuttal came after one of Mr Brown's closest aides, Damian McBride, resigned in shame over his role in the scandal.

The Prime Minister said there was "no place" in politics for such material, which came to light when emails to fellow spin doctors were leaked. Sources also confirmed that Mr McBride would not be getting a pay-off.

But the Conservatives have stepped up their efforts to pin the blame on Mr Brown, insisting he had fostered a "corrupting culture of spin" inside Number 10. Tory leader David Cameron was said to be "furious", while Labour figures also made clear their wrath at the activities.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said: "This has happened at the heart of his government, right inside Downing Street. It is very important that he shows personally that he takes this very seriously and that it is not going to happen again."

The mooted stories - which are all vehemently denied - were intended for publication on an 'attack blog' with the provisional title Red Rag.

Mr McBride apparently sent them from his Downing Street email account in January to Derek Draper, who runs the LabourList website. He also copied in Charlie Whelan, the political director of union Unite.

He began the missives with the words "Gents, a few ideas..." before detailing the gossip - which he admitted featured "a bit of poetic licence".

Mr Draper said he was "considering his position" at LabourList. He said: "I am very sorry for what happened and any embarrassment that has been caused. We didn't think it through. We were just batting about ideas. In retrospect it was a very silly and juvenile idea."