Furious Brown 'frustrated' that email scandal won't go away
GORDON Brown was 'furious' when he found out about the smear emails written by a key aide about top Tories, his spokesman claimed today amid renewed Tory pressure for an inquiry into the scandal.
And he said there was now a “huge amount of frustration” in Downing Street that the controversy was diverting attention from efforts to deal with the country’s problems such as the recession.
The author of the emails, special adviser Damian McBride, quit on Saturday when the story emerged and will not receive any severance pay, the Prime Minister’s spokesman confirmed.
Mr Brown, who accepts that none of the allegations made about Conservatives including David Cameron were true, has personally written to the subjects of the emails expressing “regret” but not offering any personal apology.
Cabinet colleagues insisted he had done everything he needs to do and cannot be held responsible for the actions of Mr McBride, one of his closest advisers for almost a decade.
Damian McBride will not receive any severance pay
But the Tories today vowed to keep up the pressure on Gordon Brown over the “smeargate” scandal.
Tory leader David Cameron welcomed the handwritten messages from the Prime Minister, saying it showed he had “finally recognised the gravity of what’s been happening in Downing Street”.
But behind the scenes the Opposition was furious that he had not said sorry for the personal claims made about the party leader and three colleagues by former Number 10 aide Damian McBride.
They dismissed as a “smokescreen” Mr Brown’s move to tighten up the code of conduct for special advisers - instead lodging a formal complaint with the head of the civil service over breaches of the existing rules.
And they called on Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell to investigate what role was played by Cabinet Office minister Tom Watson, although Mr Brown insisted no ministers or other officials were involved.
Mr McBride, a close adviser to the Prime Minister for almost a decade, resigned in disgrace after admitting sending “juvenile and inappropriate” emails from his Downing Street account to former spin doctor Derek Draper.
In the private missives, the two men discussed setting up an “attack blog” called Red Rag that would have spread unfounded gossip about Conservative opponents.
The mooted stories - which are all vehemently denied - were said to include rumours involving the wife of shadow chancellor George Osborne, the health of Mr Cameron, the personal relations of MP Nadine Dorries and accusations that a Tory MP was promoting his partner’s business interests in the Commons.
Mr Brown wrote to all four today as well as sending a letter to Sir Gus saying he wanted to toughen up the rules surrounding special advisers to make sure the controversy was never repeated.
In future special advisers should have to sign an agreement containing a “more explicit” ban on personal attacks that would also make clear such activity would lead to instant dismissal, he suggested.
Ms Dorries said it was “nonsense” to try to suggest a tighter code of conduct would have prevented the emails from being written as existing rules were “quite clear”.
And she dismissed the PM’s letter as an attempt to deflect attention from Mr Watson.
“I think this letter is more about saving Tom Watson,” she said.
“I think it was getting a bit hot for him and the Prime Minister may have been in danger of losing another colleague.
“He (Mr Brown) has very few friends.”
In his letter to Sir Gus, Mr Brown insisted he had been “assured that no minister and no political adviser other than the person involved had any knowledge of or involvement in these private emails”.
But shadow cabinet minister Francis Maude said the case raised “serious concerns” about the entire 10 Downing Street operation and questioned how much ministers knew about plans for a Labour “attack” website.
After 12 years in power, Labour appeared to believe “it can simply ignore the rules” and the public needed to know they were being “rigorously enforced” and that there would be no repeat of such smears, he said.
The discussions took place in January, and were somehow leaked to right-wing blogger Paul Staines, who operates under the name Guido Fawkes. Mr Draper believes someone hacked into his email account.
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott called for Mr Draper to be sacked.
“Smear campaigns...are fundamentally wrong and only help to poison the political debate,” he wrote on his own blog.
“I understand one man has left his job at No 10 - and quite rightly so. I believe Derek Draper should now follow him too.”
Frances Osborne, wife of the shadow chancellor, has complained to a media watchdog after details of the claims about her were repeated in newspaper reports.
The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) is investigating her complaint that The Sunday Times and The News of the World published “untrue allegations about me originating from another party”.
In her letter to the PCC, she said she reserved the right to make further complaints “about other publications who repeat or make reference to the same false allegations as their dissemination has now become so widespread that even allusions to them are damaging”.
The PM said this afternoon he had full confidence in Mr Watson but when asked whether the minister had been aware of the plan, he said simply that there was “nothing to add” to the statement made over the weekend by Mr Watson.
