Downing Street Smear Operations

[Sheilbh]

Time for Gordon to go

'Brilliant': the lurid lies of sex and drugs
Cameron, Osborne and other Tory MPs were targeted by McBride's scurrilous campaign


George Osborne and Frances Osborne attends the Galaxy British Book Awards at Grosvenor House on April 3, 2009 in London, England
Isabel Oakeshott

Inside Downing Street officials were putting the finishing touches to a £20 billion bailout package for struggling businesses, to be announced by the prime minister the next day. Out in the real world, thousands of workers were facing redundancy as Barclays and Jaguar Land Rover announced savage job cuts.

But at 6.30pm on Tuesday, January 13, Damian McBride, Downing Street's head of strategy and planning, had other things on his mind. He was bent on a smear campaign against the Tories on a proposed new website, Red Rag.

"Gents, a few ideas I have been working on for Red Rag," he wrote, by way of introduction to the plan he was about to send to Derek Draper, his old friend and Labour blogger. "For ease, I've written all the below as I'd write them for the site."

Copying in Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown's former spin doctor, McBride, who was paid by the taxpayer, set out four possible stories to ensure the new Labour website got off to a flying start.

He described the first – about a gay Tory MP promoting his companion's business interests in the Commons – as a "solid investigative story", suggesting that it "may be a good one to use early".

The other three, he admits, "are gossipy and mainly intended to destabilise the Tories".

The scurrilous suggestions and lurid language in the e-mail triggered panic in Downing Street yesterday but one person was clearly impressed.

"Absolutely totally brilliant Damian," fired back Draper 20 minutes after receiving McBride's message in January. "I'll think about timing and sort out the technology this week so we can go as soon as possible."

If the smear campaign being hatched by McBride had gone ahead, it would have set the scene for one of the dirtiest general election campaigns in recent history.

However, in a twist that would prove terminal for McBride, the e-mails fell into the hands of Paul Staines, the right-wing Westminster blogger known as "Guido Fawkes". Yesterday copies of the e-mails were seen by The Sunday Times.

McBride's ideas are set out under a series of headings, the first relating to a gay Tory MP. He suggests Red Rag circulates a story that the individual is "routinely using his position in the House of Commons to offer free publicity" to a large high street company for which the MP's boyfriend works. McBride alleges that the Tory MP "has never once declared his close personal relationship" with the store executive and lists a series of occasions on which the MP appears to have used Commons facilities to promote the company; praised the firm in Commons debates and put down parliamentary motions that could be favourable to it.

McBride's second suggestion is to challenge David Cameron, the Conservative leader, to publish his "full financial and medical records", and to spread gossip that he may have suffered from a sexually transmitted disease.

The slur appears to be based on nothing more than Cameron's admission that, when he was a student, he once attended a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases at the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. But McBride suggests "inserting [a] picture of Dr Christian Jessen", who appears on the Channel 4 programme Embarrassing Bodies. There is no suggestion that the two men know each other.

Headlined "George's photo album", McBride's third idea was to alarm the Conservatives by falsely hinting at the existence of embarrassing photographs of George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, from his university days.

In a reference to pictures published in 2005 of Osborne with a prostitute, Natalie Rowe, taken 12 years earlier, and the notorious Bullingdon Club photograph of Osborne taken when he was at Oxford, McBride writes: "Embarrassing photos have followed George Osborne around throughout his career: posing in his Bullingdon Club uniform at Oxford, lying on the carpet at home in his permed mullet playing Monopoly with his fellow viscounts and standing in an . . . embrace with a prostitute at a party in London. But he knows that the most embarrassing photos from his past have yet to emerge."

McBride goes on to suggest that the website should spread rumours that pictures exist of Osborne "posing in a bra, knickers and suspenders" and "with his face 'blacked up' ".

"He wouldn't be the first student to do some cross-dressing at university. But . . . why would a student in the late 1980s black up his face for the amusement of friends in their private college rooms? This in the era when young Tories wore 'Hang Mandela' T-shirts."

In what is perhaps the most vicious section, McBride suggests spreading entirely unfounded rumours about Frances, Osborne's wife.

A second e-mail from McBride, which appears to have been sent later the same month, offers "a couple more thoughts on stories".

"If you think these work, let's think about how to sequence them in with the others," McBride wrote. He admits that one of his ideas "is a bit of poetic licence" but is based on "what we know" about the prostitute with whom Osborne was pictured.

"It will put the fear of God into Osborne," he added.

In his most lurid slur, McBride suggests that "secret tapes" exist containing evidence that Osborne had sex with the prostitute. McBride makes obscene allegations about the use of a sex aid and also claims that drugs were taken. The shadow chancellor has always denied having any physical relationship with Rowe or taking any drugs with her.

Finally, McBride suggests Red Rag concoct a tale about Nadine Dorries, a Tory back-bench MP, having a one-night stand with a married colleague during a party away day. McBride suggests Red Rag hint that a sex aid was accidentally left in a hotel bedroom.

Dorries reacted to the unfounded allegation furiously yesterday, demanding an apology from Brown: "The e-mail accusations regarding myself are 100% not true. They are slanderous and therefore libellous." McBride has known for some days that Staines had obtained career-damaging evidence against him. However, it was not until yesterday afternoon that the prime minister's aide discovered exactly what had fallen into the political blogger's hands.

In characteristic style, before the content of the e-mails was in the public domain, McBride and his supporters attempted to spin their way out of the crisis, by characterising the messages as "banter between blokes".

Even after the devastating material was revealed, Draper seemed reluctant to accept the smear campaign was entirely a mistake, saying of the stories McBride proposed: "In truth these were a bit juvenile and inappropriate and some were in bad taste though I have to admit some were also brilliant and rather funny." He said his friend had paid a high price for a "silly mistake" and insisted the proposed smears were simply "daft plans" that "never made it off the drawing board".

Liam Byrne, the Cabinet Office minister, was wheeled out to try to minimise the political backlash. He sought to play down the significance of the e-mails, pointing out that the proposed smears were not eventually published. The Red Rag website is still dormant.

"Even their very author decided that actually there was no place in public life or for public consumption for these e-mails; the right place for them was the bin, " Byrne said.

Draper has warned that he could call in police to investigate how the "private" material was obtained.

Yesterday, there were rumours in Westminster circles that Downing Street unsuccessfully attempted to marshal one or more Labour MPs loyal to the party machine to issue quotes in support of McBride, but was rebuffed.

Brown's controversial aide has alienated many in his own party over the years. Last night his career at Downing Street was over after Brown accepted that the e-mails could not be dismissed as a joke. While his role was political, it was funded by the public purse, making his position untenable once the details became clear. He appeared isolated as Labour figures disturbed by his tactics joined the attacks.

Lord Campbell-Savours, a Labour peer, said he had raised concerns that McBride had breached the code of conduct for special advisers: "He did nothing but damage and I'm glad he's gone, but it should have happened years ago."

In a statement, McBride said he was "sickened" by Staines's decision to put the e-mails into the public domain. Bowing out, he said: "We all know that when a backroom adviser becomes the story, their position becomes untenable, so I have willingly offered my resignation. "

On kiss-and-tell stories:
'When you read a kiss & tell story in the paper, you're only ever reading what the paper have [sic] negotiated to buy. There's always other stuff which the paper's can't print...so lots of good material'

On a Tory MP's gay relationship with a retail executive:
'He invites MPs to a reception ... at the House of Commons (courtesy of the taxpayer) to promote [the retailer's] new fair trade range of products.'

On two Tory MPs said to have a one-night stand at an awayday:
'I'm told by a witness that both MPs received a carpeting.'

On Frances Osborne:
'Why are friends of George Osborne letting it be known that his wife Frances has been feeling emotionally fragile since his Yachtgate troubles in the summer?'

On David Cameron:
He could clear up exactly how much the Cameron's worth ... and he could make clear that he's not hiding any embarrassing illnesses.'

DAMIAN McBRIDE

Known as "McPoison" in the corridors of power, McBride was one of the prime minister's most trusted allies. The magazine PR Week put him in the top 10 of the country's spin doctors with the likes of Matthew Freud and Max Clifford.

He started out as a Treasury civil servant but became Gordon Brown's political adviser while his mentor was still chancellor.

Credited with masterminding a guerrilla war to get his man into No 10, McBride, 34, was at the heart of an operation to crush all opposition to Brown's succession. When Brown became prime minister, McBride became his official political spokesman, one of the most powerful positions in Downing Street.

Despite his high-profile new role, he proved reluctant to abandon the shadowy tactics he used to such great effect before his boss came to power, and continued to brief contacts over long lunches.

His enemies thought he was finished following the arrival at Downing Street of Stephen Carter, the former lobbyist, as Brown's strategy chief. The appointment sparked a turf war. When Carter left months later, he was seen as the victim of a campaign by the cabal of Brown's "long marchers" at No 10.

Carter's departure was a pyrrhic victory for McBride, who was simultaneously moved to a backroom role as director of strategy and planning. It followed disquiet among Labour MPs at his tactics.

DEREK DRAPER

Draper is a flamboyant northerner with a talent for self-promotion. He was a top Labour spin doctor until he was embroiled in a lobbying scandal in 1998, the year after Labour came to power.

He was caught on tape boasting to an undercover reporter that he could sell access to government ministers. "There are 17 people who count," he said. "To say that I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century."

He first rose to prominence as a bag carrier to Peter Mandelson, a job he did alongside editing a left-wing magazine and writing a newspaper column. He lost all three jobs when the lobbygate scandal broke.

Mandelson said of his friend at the time: "He has a fine intelligence, but sometimes I am afraid he misuses that intelligence. He gets above himself."

A year later Draper was sacked from his job as political commentator at Talk Radio after calling one of its phone-line programmes and claiming he was in a brothel in Amsterdam. He subsequently had a breakdown. After a spell at the Priory, he retrained as a psychotherapist and started writing self-help books.

He remained out of the political limelight until a year ago, when he returned to the Labour fold on a new mission to establish a political blog. As a psychotherapist, he would be well qualified to smear an innocent woman about her mental health. He is married to Kate Garraway, a GMTV presenter.

GUIDO FAWKES

Despite having no journalistic training, Paul Staines has become one of the government's most powerful critics under the pseudonym Guido Fawkes. One cabinet minister, Hazel Blears, the local government secretary, has labelled him an "antiEstablishment" pedlar of "vicious nihilism".

Launched in 2004, Staines's blog now attracts more than 120,000 visitors a month with its cocktail of jokes, scoops, satire and tittle-tattle.

Born in Ealing, west London, in 1967, Staines joined the Young Conservatives during the 1980s, when he was a leading force in the acid-house movement, involved in organising raves. He founded his blog after being declared bankrupt five years ago.

Staines's caustic political commentary has led to clashes with political journalists, who claim he trades in unsubstantiated rumour and innuendo.

In January 2008 Staines became the first blogger to claim the scalp of a heavyweight politician when Peter Hain was forced to resign after Fawkes published details of the way his campaign for Labour's deputy leadership was funded.

Labour party activists have claimed Staines is a Tory stooge, but the blogger insists he will turn his ire on politicians of all parties. He has written extensively on the saga of MPs' expenses and revealed that Caroline Spelman, the Conservative frontbencher, paid her nanny out of parliamentary expenses.

The Tories are now targeting Tom Watson, a cabinet minister and the traiter who led the coup to overthrow Tony, hopefully they'll get that scalp.  Derek Draper's always comes across as a tit, so hopefully he'll disappear too.

Alastair Campbell's blog is full of common sense on this subject.  Though he doesn't think, as I do, that it's time for Brown to step aside and let Lord Mandelson run a caretaker government while Labour elects an appropriately modernising leader.  Alas.

[Neil]

'Sex aid'?  Would it be devastating to an MP's career if it came out that he'd used a vibrator on a chick?

Labour's totally lost it.  They're falling apart and pretty they'll be down to their old-time pro-Moscow level.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Luckily there has to be a General Election by June 3rd 2010, so they just have one year remaining to attempt the destruction of the UK before they hand over to the equally incompetent Tories 

[PDH]

Luckily there has to be a General Election by June 3rd 2010, so they just have one year remaining to attempt the destruction of the UK before they hand over to the equally incompetent Tories 

Remember, democracy is about choice.

[Sheilbh]

Luckily there has to be a General Election by June 3rd 2010, so they just have one year remaining to attempt the destruction of the UK before they hand over to the equally incompetent Tories 

The problem is I really don't trust David Cameron or George Osbourne.  I think they both seem very much out of their depth and pretty callow.

All the politicians I think could make best policy out of this depression aren't leading the parties: Cable, Clarke, Mandelson and Frank Field.  The leadership of all three parties and most of their cabinet/shadow cabinet appointees seem pretty weak to be honest.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I trust Cameron and Osbourne more than Brown, but agree that they are callow and out of their depth. The main problem, as you say, is the tremendous dearth of talent on the front benches. I think the roots of this lie in the declining participation rate in politics and the emasculation of local government for the past 3 decades. We have simply not been recruiting our politicians from a wide enough pool of people. This has been hidden for some time, because it can take 20-30 years in politics to get to senior ministerial rank, but is now becoming oppressively obvious 

[Josquius]

I really, really don't trust Cameron.
He's the toriest tory we've seen for some time yet the way he pretends not to be....

. I think the roots of this lie in the declining participation rate in politics and the emasculation of local government for the past 3 decades. We have simply not been recruiting our politicians from a wide enough pool of people. This has been hidden for some time, because it can take 20-30 years in politics to get to senior ministerial rank, but is now becoming oppressively obvious 

True.
The dullness and complete lack of power of local government has certainly put me of trying to get involved at the least and I'd see myself as amongst the more politically aware of the general population.

[Neil]

I really, really don't trust Cameron.
He's the toriest tory we've seen for some time yet the way he pretends not to be....

I would say that's a rather glowing endorsement.

[Sheilbh]

The rot goes even deeper:

Ed Balls 'ran' Labour's smear unit


Ed Balls, the schools secretary
Isabel Oakeshott, Deputy Political Editor

ED BALLS, the schools secretary, used Damian McBride, the disgraced spin doctor, to smear ministerial rivals and advance his own ambitions, a Downing Street whistleblower has claimed.

In an explosive new twist to the e-mail affair, a No 10 insider has revealed that Balls was the mastermind behind a "dark arts" operation by McBride to undermine colleagues.

He claims the education secretary is running a destabilising "shadow operation" inside Downing Street to clear his path for the party leadership if Labour loses the next election.

The insider said: "There is now an operation within an operation at No 10 and it answers to Ed Balls."

Balls's behaviour has provoked a backlash from ministers, who fear his ambition is distracting the government from fighting the recession. Some insiders believe the shadow operation threatens to destroy Labour's hopes of winning the general election.

The whistleblower, who has had a ringside seat on the power struggles inside No 10, claims that Balls:

— Engineered McBride's move from civil servant to special adviser
— Repeatedly protected McBride when colleagues called for him to be sacked
— Was in constant contact with McBride, sending him up to 20 e-mails a day
— Instructed McBride to brief against cabinet rivals
— Exploits a weekly "strategy" meeting, which he chairs at Downing Street, to shore up his power base.

The whistleblower claims the prime minister is "strangely naive" about Balls's activities: "He doesn't see what's going on. He unwittingly helps Ed by sidelining the ministers Ed sees as a threat."

All the claims are denied by Balls, who labelled them "completely fabricated and malevolent nonsense". A spokesman for Brown also dismissed the claims.

Senior Labour figures have confirmed there is widespread anxiety about Balls's activities. The revelations will fuel concern that the government is in terminal decline, with senior ministers more worried about positioning themselves for life after defeat than about rescuing the economy.

The whistleblower, who has never spoken to the media before, was prompted to speak out through loyalty to Brown and the Labour party. He was angered by an interview given by Balls last week in which he distanced himself from McBride, who was forced to resign over plans to spread scurrilous rumours about senior Tories.

"In that interview, Ed called Damian 'Mr McBride' as if he barely knew him. In fact, Ed was running McBride. It was Ed who first spotted McBride's talent, Ed who was behind his appointment as a special adviser and Ed who made sure he stayed in the job. Recently, McBride has been working almost entirely for him," the whistleblower said.

Investigations by The Sunday Times have revealed that before the e-mail scandal, at least eight senior government figures urged Brown to dismiss McBride amid concerns that he was a liability. They included Lord Mandelson, the business secretary; Harriet Harman, the deputy Labour leader; Alastair Campbell, the former spin doctor; Lord Carter, the former No 10 strategy chief; Douglas Alexander, Labour's election supremo; and two other Downing Street officials, David Muir and Nick Stace. It is understood Gus O'Donnell, the cabinet secretary, also raised concerns.

According to the insider, on each occasion Balls protected McBride, persuading Brown he was too valuable to lose: "Even before we got to Downing Street there were discussions about whether it was wise for McBride to come too. Some thought he should stay at the Treasury. But Ed blocked it."

Balls, who has worked alongside Brown for 15 years, has made little secret of his ambition to become chancellor, saying only a month ago in an interview that he would "love" the job. Publicly he has claimed to have no "plan" to become party leader.

The insider claims Balls used McBride to help clear his path, "instructing" the spin doctor to brief against colleagues who could be a threat. Among his alleged targets were Alexander, David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and Jacqui Smith, the home secretary. He claims Balls hopes to replace Darling in the next reshuffle.

The whistleblower revealed that Balls was given the chairmanship of a weekly "strategy" meeting inside No 10 as a "sop" after the return of Mandelson to government. Regular attendees include Tom Watson, the junior cabinet minister, Charlie Whelan, political director of Unite, the UK's largest trade union, and, until his resignation last week, McBride. Liam Byrne, another cabinet minister, also plays a prominent role but is not regarded as part of Balls's "shadow operation".

The whistleblower accused Balls of using the meetings to further his own agenda.

There is no suggestion Balls was aware of McBride's plans to spread scurrilous rumours about David Cameron, the Tory leader, and George Osborne, the shadow chancellor. But Labour figures smeared by McBride believe the education secretary was behind their treatment.

A spokesman for Balls said: "These allegations are completely fabricated and malevolent nonsense without any foundation in fact. The only fact is that Ed Balls and Liam Byrne have jointly chaired a meeting on Wednesday afternoons at the express request of the prime minister.

"Other than that, Ed has spent all his time trying to do his best for children and young people. He has always acted in the best interests of the Labour government."

A spokesman for Brown rejected the allegations as "absurd and preposterous", denying that Balls had instructed McBride to brief against ministers. He said there was "nothing unusual" in the level of e-mail correspondence between Balls and McBride.

Last night it emerged that Ray Collins, Labour's general secretary, had attended a meeting to discuss the setting-up of a website for attacking prominent Tories. However, Collins denies any knowledge of the McBride smear e-mails. A complaint about last week's coverage of the Damian McBride affair was made by Frances Osborne to the Press Complaints Commission. That complaint was resolved after The Sunday Times agreed not to republish Mr McBride's untrue smears in relation to Mrs Osborne and to remove specific references to them from our website.

Alastair Campbell's blog has the most damning comment on Ed Balls: 'I see both Alistair and I appear in a list of people allegedly smeared or briefed against by a unit run by Ed Balls. All I cay say is if so, I was unaware of it.'

[Sheilbh]

And today's polls are awful for the party:

The public's judgement on the email smears
Posted on April 18th, 2009 by Anthony Wells

I am expecting at least two new polls in the Sunday newspapers, our first chance to see how the public have reacted to the email smears and the political fuss around it over the last few days. I will update here as soon as the figures are available.

UPDATE: The Sunday Telegraph has a Marketing Sciences Ltd poll. My understanding is this is a sister company to ICM, with the poll presumably done by the sister brand because otherwise it would clash with ICM's contractual obligations to the Guardian. The poll was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday.

The topline figures are CON 43%, LAB 26%, LDEM 21%, putting the Conservatives 17 points ahead. With the exception of a single MORI poll in February that in hindsight screamed "rogue poll", this is the largest Tory lead since September.

On the assumption that this poll was conducted in exactly the same way as ICM's polls, the changes since their last poll are Conservatives down 1, Labour down 5, the Lib Dems up 3 and presumably the "others" up 3 or so. It appears from this poll at least that Labour have suffered damage from the smear emails, but that it has been to the benefit of the Lib Dems, others (and I expect, non voters) rather than the Conservatives.

I'm expecting at least one more poll tonight, so we'll see if it confirms this pattern.

Looking at the rest of the questions in the poll 36% of respondents said they blame Gordon brown for presiding over a dirty trick culture at number 10, 50% did not.

Asked who they would most like to see replace Gordon Brown were he to resign as Labour leader, Jack Straw lead on 23%, followed by David Miliband 14%, Alan Johnson 7%, Harriet Harman on 6%, Ed Miliband on 4%, Ed Balls on 3% and James Purnell on 1%. As usual, questions like this probably say a lot more about how well known Brown's potential successors are, rather than how popular they woulb be as PM.

UPDATE 2: There is a second poll from BPIX in the Mail on Sunday has topline figures of CON 45%, LAB 26% - Lib Dems to be confirmed. It has been 6 months since the last BPIX poll was published, so changes can't tell us much about reaction to the email smear scandal alone (Tim Montgomerie on ConHome is comparing it to YouGov's last poll - you shouldn't, my understanding is they use different weighting.)

There is normally some scepticism regarding BPIX polls because their methodology isn't open. Their polls are weighted by past vote, but to what shares we don't know. However, in the past their figures have been broadly in line with other companies, albeit, towards the more "Tory friendly" end of the scale. This one appears roughly in line with Marketing Sciences - the Tory score isn't too different and they too show Labour being pushed down into the mid-twenties.

[Neil]

Good for the Tories.  Still, it doesn't matter, since there's no reason for Brown to call an election until the last minute.  Not that Brown really matters in Labour anymore.  He's just leading them to electoral Armageddon, at which point he can be scapegoated and replaced.

[Syt]

Reminds me of:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_13_(computer_game)

[Sheilbh]

Good for the Tories.  Still, it doesn't matter, since there's no reason for Brown to call an election until the last minute.  Not that Brown really matters in Labour anymore.  He's just leading them to electoral Armageddon, at which point he can be scapegoated and replaced.

I think he should be scapegoated and replaced now.  By James Purnell who can then appoint a cabinet of Young Turks and demolish the Tories

[Neil]

Good for the Tories.  Still, it doesn't matter, since there's no reason for Brown to call an election until the last minute.  Not that Brown really matters in Labour anymore.  He's just leading them to electoral Armageddon, at which point he can be scapegoated and replaced.

I think he should be scapegoated and replaced now.  By James Purnell who can then appoint a cabinet of Young Turks and demolish the Tories

Brown will hold on for dear life.  Being PM is the only thing that matters to him.  Besides, the Tories are invincible right now, and there are no competant people left in Labour with any stature.

[PDH]

Ed Balls

Hehe