Many congratulations to Guido Fawkes.
The Prime Minister has apparently said that there is no place in politics for dissemination or publication of material of this kind but he has presided over a staff team long associated with these smear tactics. We'll get the grisly details in the Sunday newspapers and they will be grisly.
Derek Draper was just on Sky News trying to suggest that (alleged) hacking into his email system is the real issue. He is defending McBride as a good servant of the Labour Party. Extraordinary.
Tim Montgomerie
6.30pm update: Damian McBride has released the following resignation statement:
"I am shocked and appalled that, however they were obtained, these e-mails have been put into the public domain by Paul Staines. When Derek Draper originally suggested using a website to compete with the kind of material seen regularly on the Guido Fawkes blog, he asked me in a personal capacity to write up some of the stories doing the rounds in Westminster.
"Derek and I decided in the end that this website was the wrong thing to do, and that Derek should not take his online efforts down to the level of Guido Fawkes and his Tory backers. I have already apologised for the inappropriate and juvenile content of my e-mails, and the offence they have caused, but I did not want these stories in the public domain - it is because Paul Staines has put them there, and I am sickened that he has done so.
"However, we all know that when a backroom adviser becomes the story, their position becomes untenable, so I have willingly offered my resignation. It has been an absolute privilege to work for Gordon Brown and the Labour government in the Treasury and in Downing Street, they will always have my full support, and I regret any embarrassment I have caused them."
What is remarkable is that his prime concern appears to be that the emails reached the public domain, rather than concentrating on a showing a little contrition for the fact that they were written in the first place.
Jonathan Isaby
Not long now.
Posted by: Jamal Akhbar | April 11, 2009 at 17:17
It all started in America.
Global solutions require global problems.
Sack Broon!
Posted by: Gruntson | April 11, 2009 at 17:17
Good riddance! Now let's hope Draper gets lost too...
Tomorrow's papers are going to be fascinating reading.
Posted by: Sally Roberts | April 11, 2009 at 17:18
Has the PM stated that it all started in the US yet? Will McBride still get any civil service pension or payoff even though he has tacitly admitted to and been accused of Gross Professional Misconduct? Are some labourites in the Cabinet Office so disgusted with their own Party that they have started briefing against the core of Gordon's operation? Is this Gordon's suitcase bomb in the bunker? We can but wonder and hope.
Posted by: grumpy old man | April 11, 2009 at 17:23
Ian Dale replying to the pathetic Draper line has suggested that Charlie Whelan is also mixed up in this.........
Who was the Union that subsidised LabourLost?
Isn't Whelan working part time for UNITE?
Posted by: William Blake's Ghost | April 11, 2009 at 17:23
Could Draper be accused of 'Procuring Misconduct In Public Office' perhaps?
Posted by: William Blake's Ghost | April 11, 2009 at 17:24
13 months until we can get rid of this rancid Government. Can we have a countdown clock?
Posted by: Andrew Woodman | April 11, 2009 at 17:24
Just shows the level Labour will stoop.
Posted by: Gary | April 11, 2009 at 17:28
Labour are trying to change the subjecct and turn it round on Guido. Once the details come out in the Sundays, Draper will be Donald Ducked.
We need to pin as much of this on Brown as possible and make the mud stick. We also need to ascertain which senior members were at the labourlist launch and who knew about the smear plan.
Labourlist is finished as a blog before it's even started- exposed as nothing but a front site for Number 10 smears.
Well done Guido- another scalp to add to your totem pole of traitors.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 11, 2009 at 17:29
"Derek Draper was just on Sky News trying to suggest that (alleged) hacking into his email system is the real issue. He is defending McBride as a good servant of the Labour Party. Extraordinary."
Yes just watched that on Sky News, what a dispicable man, hopefully it will be on youtube soon.
Someone was sure to grab the 9 min or so video?.
Posted by: Ron. | April 11, 2009 at 17:30
Labour's Brown is still hanging on in there but only just though.We will see more of them go and some of the MPs start the earnest push to oust Brown in the faint hope they themselves will be saved.But deep down they all know that there is nobody capable in the whole of their miserable setup.
Posted by: R.Baker | April 11, 2009 at 17:31
What was in it for Emily? Jackie should watch her back.
Posted by: Sally C | April 11, 2009 at 17:33
Key thing is that the Govt have been defeated by the bloggers and not the party's machinery.
This was a victory for the independents.
Posted by: HF | April 11, 2009 at 17:33
Let's just hope that having been sacked for gross misconduct McBride doesn't get to trough his massive taxpayer funded pension.
Posted by: Mr Angry | April 11, 2009 at 17:35
What a terrible photo!
It makes him look like exactly what he is, an unctuous little creep!
Well done Guido!
Posted by: South Down Tory | April 11, 2009 at 17:37
Sadly there is no smoke without fear---were the proposed smears based on truth.If it is in the closet it'll all come out ,whether sex drugs or rock'n'roll.
Posted by: michael mcgough | April 11, 2009 at 17:41
They pulled the flush and it went away!
Good Riddance!
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 11, 2009 at 17:44
"Draper will be Donald Ducked."
LOL, Cleethorpes Rock - I like that!!!
michael mcgough - well as I said before, if there should happen to be anything nasty in the cupboard then better we know now then just before Election Day.
Posted by: Sally Roberts | April 11, 2009 at 17:44
Steve, you've been watching too many episodes of The Bill! :-)
Posted by: Sally Roberts | April 11, 2009 at 17:46
Watch the Big G on the beeb, tore the poor newsreader a new one when the 'reader questioned the validity of his stories on his blog.
Posted by: angryvoter, Swad | April 11, 2009 at 17:48
After watching Sky News I am reminded of this Pink Floyd record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIDzuyt9gHA
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 11, 2009 at 17:51
Kudos to Guido and to ConHome. And let's not forget the other email scandal: www.hannan.co.uk
Posted by: Daniel Hannan | April 11, 2009 at 17:57
Draper, one of the most unlikeable people on tv, is being mauled in his own backyard over on Loonylist. His pathetic excuses aren't cutting any mustard and even his own people think he's a plonker of the highest degree..the Tories need to make sure this one runs and runs!
Posted by: Michael | April 11, 2009 at 18:02
It surely is naive to immagine that a man of McBride's importance was just having a doodle. Obviously this was part of a deliberate policy going in to the GE and, therefore, Brown must have known about the intended policy and quite possibly some of the "details".
Posted by: David Sergeant | April 11, 2009 at 18:03
"He is defending McBride as a good servant of the Labour Party".
I thought McBride was a civil servant? If he is, he had no right to be attacking any MPs at the taxpayers' expense.
Brown no doubt will now be in full Macavity mode.
Posted by: David Belchamber | April 11, 2009 at 18:26
Unfortunately I believe the claims about George Osborne that are likely to surface in the NOTW tonight are very close to the truth. I fear it may be the end for him, which in the medium term may be no bad thing.
Posted by: WelshTory | April 11, 2009 at 18:27
They must have found out how bloody the Sunday newspapers are going to be to have ditched McBride so fast. It appears that the 'get the story out first' tactic in today's Telegraph didn't have the defusing effect that no.10 hoped. The line will now be that it was all McBride and no-one else had any knowledge of his little games. However, this is almost inconceivable. The question is was Gordon Brown in the room, nodding and smiling, as his head of strategy laid out his latest plan?
Posted by: Steve Horgan | April 11, 2009 at 18:32
Guido was excellent on State Television. This is excellent news for us and a disaster for Labour.
It's vital we drag Brown into this and keep the story rumbling on. Hopefully, the full lurid details will find their way into the public domain tomorrow so we can ram the point home and claim some more scalps.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 11, 2009 at 18:34
I think Welshtory has a point. If those named in the emails DON'T sue then maybe people might believe there is some truth in the allegations.
Posted by: Surreybill | April 11, 2009 at 18:42
I wonder how long it will be before another mash up of Downfall about today's events is sighted?
Posted by: South Down Tory | April 11, 2009 at 18:43
Nadine Dorries was brilliant on PM. She woudn't allow them to move the story away from Gordon Brown. Draper and Thornberry are no match for Guido and our gorgeous Nadine.
Posted by: Matthew | April 11, 2009 at 18:45
Big scalp number 3 for Guido?
However this is a very public demonstraction of the power of the internet and bloggers. I would implore CCHQ and conservative leaning bloggers to be on guard as I predict a the Labour goverment will use the state as a vehicle for attacking bloggers in retaliation, be it attempts to put harsh controls on bloggin content or other ways to control what they fear. I just have this gut feeling that Brown will order legislation on blogging as that is how Labour reacts to these situations and I would suggest the Conservative party has an alternative policy that protects freedom of speech by UK based bloggers in response to Labours inevitable knee jerk reaction.
Posted by: YMT | April 11, 2009 at 18:47
I bet that grin in the picture above is ling gone.Labour ARENOW THE NASTY PARTY.Always were really.
Posted by: michael mcgough | April 11, 2009 at 18:49
Exactly my concern Surreybill
We must make sure that we get all the skeletons out of the closet before the rough and tumble of the GE is upon us. It is, as they say, a good time to bury bad news.
Posted by: WelshTory | April 11, 2009 at 18:50
What a loathsome man. The contents of a public gents are more attractive.
Posted by: Sean Fear | April 11, 2009 at 18:51
in all the childish fuss about Mc Bride one of the few relevant comments made was that most bloggers were no better than self opinionated fourth form hooligans.
The only person to ever enter Parliament with good intentions was Guido Fawkes and if it were not for a blogger/blagger of his day, British History might have changed for the better.
It was indeed King James who passed a law the following year, that an effigy of the pole in Rome should be burned on a pyre in every village in England.
A tradition which carries on to this day, with the law having been repeal led in 1998.
Hardly a practice to be commended in a so called Christian Country. But obviously approved of by the Church of England, better know as the Tory Party at prayer.
Posted by: sean | April 11, 2009 at 18:51
Steve Foley "After watching Sky News I am reminded of this Pink Floyd record.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIDzuyt9gHA"
Yes very apt comment on that baggage from Islington. "its just boys..."
Unfortunately her Lib Dem replacement is on a similar level. There is a large untapped Conservative vote in Islington which one day will get organised.
Posted by: HF | April 11, 2009 at 18:52
Everybody in Britain knows Brown is involved.
Posted by: MG | April 11, 2009 at 18:54
This must be bad for Brown to drop McBride (read Frases Nelson at Spectator Coffee House). Might suggest that the "son of the Manse" is up to his armpits in this. We need to watch where McBride turns up. Working for ZanuLabour or a union assisting in their campaigning no doubt ? They have been smearing all Conservatives for twelve years we can now spit back with rightoeus indignation !
Posted by: Gawain | April 11, 2009 at 19:04
Resignation letter bleating it's all the Tories' fault then
Posted by: Paul D | April 11, 2009 at 19:05
According to tomorows Observer the idea for this smear campaign was only put on ice two weeks ago. As Samantha Cameron is apparently a subject of the EMails, these dates mean that during the period she lost Ivan, Daper and Mc Bride were discussing how to smear a grieving mother. What loathsome specimens those two really are.
Posted by: Peter Buss | April 11, 2009 at 19:07
Now I wonder if and where Tom Watson MP, (Labour West Bromwich East) known to be a Blogger and a very loyal Brownite, fits into all this?
As a matter of interest.How Tom Watson voted on key issues since 2001
* Voted against a transparent Parliament.
* Voted for introducing a smoking ban.
* Voted for introducing ID cards.
* Voted for introducing foundation hospitals.
* Voted for introducing student top-up fees.
* Voted for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
* Voted for the Iraq War.
* Voted against investigating the Iraq war.
* Voted for equal gay rights.
* Voted for keeping the £24k a year second home 'John Lewis List' allowance.
Is he perchance related?I think we should be told!
I look forward to reading the Sundays tomorrow, even the NOTW which I normally wouldn't use in place of Andrex!
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 11, 2009 at 19:10
Fraser Nelson has posted some of the smears as the NOTW will report them tomorrow
http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3532016/the-smears-that-backfired.thtml
What a contemptible band of ****s!
Posted by: South Down Tory | April 11, 2009 at 19:11
It's pretty sad that politics is stooping to a new low in this country.
Hopefully the said smears will do more damage to the instigators than to the targets. This is the sort of political strategies that should not exist in a democratic country,they are tactics of extremists (none to similar to what the nazzi party used to gain and hold power)
Posted by: chris southern | April 11, 2009 at 19:16
We all know Brown, via Tom Watson is involved. In any case, who cares whether he's involved or not?
We need to hammer away that "Gordon Brown ordered this and it goes right to the top." If we say it often enough, mud sticks.
Again, our MPs need to be briefed on a simple three-stage line of attack:
- Gordon Brown knows exactly what was going on and the buck stops with him.
- Which senior Labour figures knew about this and when?
- Labour are routinely using taxpayers' money to pay for political activity and it needs to stop.
and then hammer away at it. Ad Nauseum.
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 11, 2009 at 19:19
Wonder how they'll divert attention from this story over the Bank Holiday.
Bird flu? Terrorist plot? Somali pirates on the Thames?
Posted by: Wheelie bin Laden | April 11, 2009 at 19:21
Gary 17.28 - 'Just shows the level Labour will stoop'.
They will stoop lower than this if they get really desperate!
Posted by: Patsy Sergeant | April 11, 2009 at 19:35
Thank you for the link South Down Tory. All I will say on the subject of the possible smears is that if anyone close to a Member of Parliament IS indeed suffering from depression or something similar, then that should engender sympathy and understanding and is most certainly NOT a resigning matter. I can certainly empathise with "emotional fragility" in anyone.
Posted by: Sally Roberts | April 11, 2009 at 19:37
Rest assured Labour will fight a filthy campaign at the next General Election. If a Tory Candidate's mother was fined for shoplifting 30 years ago, that will be dragged in if they know it, and other such matters of little or no consequence in the real world.
Be prepared for them to be red in tooth and claw.
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 11, 2009 at 19:49
Tory MPs need to come out and say it is LABOUR who are now the NASTY party...this is just sick and obscene..one of the smears says that Cameron has an embarrassing illness..this is just depraved behaviour from the NASTY LABOUR party
Posted by: Michael | April 11, 2009 at 19:50
"one of the smears says that Cameron has an embarrassing illness..this is just depraved behaviour from the NASTY LABOUR party"
It's also completely puerile - Grubby Little Schoolboys!!
Posted by: Sally Roberts | April 11, 2009 at 19:52
Whilst this story is truly scandalous and they should keep hammering away as more Labour figures are exposed, most people will see this an an internal Parliamentary/political in fighting or spat.
Which is why senior tories whilst leaving Chris Grayling aka Rottweiller on the case should be coming forward and saying 'Why when the economy is falling apart, is GB's team spending time on this'
Other lines spring to mind, but someone needs to get out there and promote the bigger picture on the media that will be being talked about in the pubs, streets and workplaces over the next few days.
Posted by: Bill Melotti | April 11, 2009 at 19:55
I thought I could not think less of them until I read McBride's "apology". It stinks. It is only welcome for the small aperture it opens into No. 10's "soul": it is whining, self-pitiful & still full of sly anti-Tory innuendo. They truly believe that dissimilation will save them. That's enough peering into the heartless abyss for me; I never thought to feel dirty from reading a resignation letter. Just go, all of you sleazy stains on public life, pack your carpet bags of filth and go.
Posted by: Graeme Archer | April 11, 2009 at 19:57
So Derek Draper is complaining his emails are being read. Why? This week, this corrupt Government assumed powers to read everyone else's emails.
Posted by: Sandy Jamieson | April 11, 2009 at 20:03
Congrats to Guido. A nasty man has gone, but more remain. Keep up the hard work, matey!
Posted by: Raj | April 11, 2009 at 20:04
You just couldn't make this up! As I type Stephen Pound is lying his heart out on BBC News 24 Ch 80 and putting on a mask of indignation blaming Guido Fawkes (Paul Staines) for daring to disclose these defamatory e-mails, and not Mc Bride for uttering them in the first place. I have never liked Pound and look forward to having a "Portillo Moment" if as I hope he loses his seat at the next General Election.
As Robert Burns one said "Such a parcel of Rogues in a nation"
Posted by: Steve Foley | April 11, 2009 at 20:12
Posted by: Cleethorpes Rock | April 11, 2009 at 19:19
I contemplated repeating all of Cleethorpes Rock's above post. It is all spot on. Can Tory MPs now start fighting the GE that this trash was obviously leading up to.
Posted by: David Sergeant | April 11, 2009 at 20:16
This government is going to go out in a supernova of scandal. They have had a decade of it and all discussion has been supressed by the corrupt media but there is only so much the rolling news editors can do to protect Labour. Today Number 10 has had its dodgy practices exposed (paying with tax payers money a man whose only purpose is to create anti Tory spin and lies) and not only that, but having it failed prision policies exposed too. Labour responds to being found out by blaming those that exposed them! They say the Conservatives are wicked for exposing Labour scandals! Just like when Labour had a Conservative front bencher arrested for exposing Labour scandal! And today the Ministry of Justice denies there is anything wrong with our prisions even whilst the riots are ongoing! (Anyone remember the information minister in Iraq claiming the Americans are not there, just as they are rolling into view behind him??) Imagine how different things would be if the media didn't do everything in its power to protect Labour! Imagine how things would stand if the BBC were impartial! It would be a very different country, it probably wouldn't be quite so broken!
A grenade has been thrown into Brown's bunker, lets make sure we pick off all those that try to run! Take no prisioners!
Posted by: Tristan Downing | April 11, 2009 at 22:54
Tristan,
You know what people do in bunkers during April, I suppose. Given that Brown's bunker is metaphorical, his metaphorical end - i.e. resignation - would suffice,
Stephen.
Posted by: Super Blue | April 13, 2009 at 22:41