Damian McBride's emails are symptomatic of this Labour administration's history of character assassination

No surprise that one political story dominates today's newspapers and that is the resignation of Damian McBride as political and communications adviser to Gordon Brown.

After some impressive groundwork from Guido Fawkes, who brought the story to the attention of the mainstream media, it  became apparent that civil servant Mr McBride had written emails from his Downing Street office, during working hours, paid for by the taxpayer, using his government email address, which made a series of shameful smears against various Opposition politicians.

A statement issued yesterday indicated that Gordon Brown took the view that there was "no place in politics" for the dissemination of the kind of material with which Mr McBride was involved.

If only it were that simple for the Prime Minister to draw a line under the activities of one individual and claim that it was an isolated incident.

Labour came to office in 1997 on the back of crying sleaze against John Major's Government at every opportunity. Yet what we have seen from them in power amounts to a culture of spin and obsession with trampling its opponents which amounts to sleaze of the very worst kind.

The truth is that the McBride emails are by no means the first time that we have seen poisonous character assassination of those who were not signed up to the Labour agenda - be they people who exposed government shortcomings, political opponents, or even fellow Labour figures who fell out of favour.

Think of the following:

• The emails from a special adviser to Labour HQ seeking details of the political affiliations of survivors of the Paddington rail crash in an attempt to discredit their motives, after one of their number, Pam Warren, accused a Cabinet minister of misleading Parliament;
• The smearing of weapons expert Dr David Kelly by the then Prime Minister's official spokesman by branding him a "Walter Mitty" figure; 
• The attempt by Labour to smear Boris Johnson as a bigot and racist when he was first selected as the Conservative mayoral candidate;
• How 94-year-old Rose Addis was accused of being a racist after complaining about the treatment she had received in hospital;
• The whispering campaign run against the Cabinet minister Mo Mowlam, in which anonymous sources briefed about her ability to do her job whilst undergoing treatment for cancer; and
• The dismissal of Sir Michael Willcocks, then Black Rod, as a "closet Tory" when he spoke out about Downing Street seeking a bigger role for Tony Blair in the Queen Mother's funeral.

And then there was the branding by minister Margaret Hodge herself of Demetrious Panton as "extremely disturbed" after he spoke out about the failure properly to investigate the child abuse he and others suffered when he was in care in Islington when Mrs Hodge was council leader.

No administration in history has been so obsessed with spin to the point that those who threaten it have to be undermined and smeared in this way (and let's not forget the infamous suggestion from special adviser Jo Moore in an email that September 11 would be "a good day to bury bad news").

Herein lies an important lesson for David Cameron. Much has been written in recent weeks about the need to clean up politics and the events of the last 24 hours have made the need to set down the strictest of rules for political advisers in a future Cameron Government all the more vital.

Political advisers have a legitimate role to play and I do not join in the chorus of those who dismiss special advisers out of hand. For ministers to have a set of political eyes and ears in their departments is useful for them, for their civil servants and for journalists alike, and their position should be integral to good governance.

But indulging in attacks and smears must never be part of their portfolio and I hope David Cameron will take the opportunity to make that point loud and clear in the coming days.

Jonathan Isaby 

Comments

[oldrightie]

If our hierarchy think thias is the end of Labour and Brown's tactics, think again. They got arrogant and careless. How many more tax payer funded servants are beavering away for Labour? Hundreds. They are a shameless and mendacious bunch of nigh on criminals. The spitting anger by Brown will be that they got caught. The nastiness and hateful, spiteful behaviour is only mirroring Brown's nature and heavily flawed character. To let him get away with the pretence he was not part of this would be a big mistake.

[Sally Roberts]

Thank you, Jonathan, for outlining here the shameful tally of Labour's poisonous lies and smears. This list will be very useful come Election time.
Oh and people should reiterate again and again that Brown must have been complicit in what was going on.

[Peter]

We can see here how it is that our political masters (not just Labour by the way) lie so easily and so often about the really big stuff, like the creeping take over by the the Brussels mafia.

[David]

Let's not forget the use of anti terrorist police to silence a member of the shadow cabinet and the ejecting of an elederly man from the labour conference for daring to heckle the justice secretrary. This government wishes to know everything you are doing but at the same time stop you from saying anything 'off message'. If this isn't a police state, what is?

[anne allan]

And what happened to Elizabeth Filkin.

[ToryBlog.com -]

Well there will be less people on the Drapists LabourList than a UK Libertarian Party national convention now!

But before you get all holier-than-thou, we have seen more than a few CCHQ briefings against fellow Tories which unfortunately suggests that the Roons have adopted the full Blair-toolkit.

[Ross]

" How 94-year-old Rose Addis was accused of being a racist after complaining about the treatment she had received in hospital"

That was a particularly nasty case, with the government actually leaking the medical records of their critics in order to silence them.

[David Cooper]

Another on their own side was Gordon McMaster MP.

[Ross]

London Labour councillor Miranda Grell who smeared her Lib Dem opponent as a paedophile springs to mind too, she was backed to the hilt by Ken Livingstone and the national Labour Party too.

[ToryBlog.com - Not a roon]

Oops, sorry Editor, forgot to add the -'Not a Roon' disclaimer to my name.

[Peter Buss]

I agree with the thrust of this article and vey enlightening it is on this wretched Bown Govt. But in the midst of all the sound and understandable fury, these Emails allege some pretty corrupt behaviour by a Tory MP and his boyfriend in relationship to the latters business.Hate to mention it but shouldn't the Party hierarchy investigate this and sort it one way or the other. Might be painful and get some bad publicity but surely we must be seen to tackle sleaze at every opportunity.

[Sally Roberts]

Don't forget the smears that Livingstone used during the Mayoral Election campaign, claiming that Boris "hated Muslims"!

[Mark Hudson]

Just read The Sunday Times. I have to say that the characterisation of the e-mails as puerile and distasteful was spot on. This said, they're rather a storm in a teacup. This stuff goes on in all political parties, as I experienced myself on a much lesser scale when I was summoned to a CCHQ meeting to kick me off the Candidate's List in January 2004. Amazing what had been circulated and said against me.

This is a non-story compared to the economy, immigration etc. No-one will care about it at the General Election. It'll be forgotten in a very short space of time.

[Sally Roberts]

"It'll be forgotten in a very short space of time."

Not if people are reminded of it over and over again, it won't! I have made a copy of Jonathan's excellent article so that I can bring out the list whenever necessary and I hope others will do the same.

[Gary]

Labour is obsessed with spin and smear. And beacause of the left's self righteousnes believes what it is doing is right.

[Phil C]

The David Kelly case was far more shameful than simply smearing him as a Walter Mitty. There was the way he was hung out to dry and scapegoated, and the way Gilligan and the BBC were gone after for a story that was basically correct. The Government's actions directly led to his suicide, in my view. The supine reaction of the BBC didn't help either, they should have just told the Government where to stick it.

[Cleethorpes Rock]

Where are our MPs? Are they still in bed? Liam Byrne is getting a free ride in the media and we're in danger of letting Labour close down the issue and even turn it against us.

Points to note:

- McBride was a civil servant paid for by the taxpayer. This is a misuse of public money by Gordon Brown.

- Why aren't Labour sorting our Brown's recession or getting a grip on the shambolic prison system?

Grayling has been very bad in the media. I can see Charles Clarke on Sky now. WHERE ARE OUR PEOPLE???? AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!! Get a grip, CCHQ.

[Stop Common Purpose]

Compared with the acts of corruption, deceit, fraud and treachery that are associated with Common Purpose, McBride's few emails are of trivial importance.

[Sally Roberts]

"Grayling has been very bad in the media. I can see Charles Clarke on Sky now. WHERE ARE OUR PEOPLE???? AAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!! Get a grip, CCHQ."

Grayling was superb and is still attacking on the news channels. I have literally just had a text from a friend telling me how good he is!

If we have EVERYONE coming out instead of an appointed spokesman (and Grayling is probably our best attack dog) then it might be thought that the Conservatives were panicking and people would start to wonder if there was "no smoke without fire"!

[Patsy Sergeant]

I go along totally with what 'oldrightie' says at the top of these comments.

And Sally, I would finish off your second sentence with:- If the Prime Minister truly didn't know what was going on - a sentence, by the way that he - Mr. Brown - is inclined to use rather often, then as Prime Minister, and the Leader of the government, he SHOULD know what is going on!

[Cleethorpes Rock]

Sally, Grayling has failed to ram home the point that McBride was a civil servant, who was paid by Gordon Brown to come up with this stuff at the taypayers' expense. That has gone unmentioned.

[Aeneas]

The more Labour is seen to defend this the better it will play for teh Conservatives. It didn't take a Conservative spokesman to make Derek Draper look like a shifty liar.

More in sorrow than anger should be the approach.

"Discerning folk will murmur (let us hope)
'She hanged herself but what splendid rope.'"

[Patsy Sergeant]

As an addition to my previous comment..

At least Mr. Brown's predecessor, Tony Blair performed his 'character assassinations' (of Opposition leaders), in the open, in the midst of Parliament, in that at least, HE, was straightforward.

Not for him skulking the the background, behind a tramps and spinners.

[Bernard from Horsham]

Graying mentioned the civil servant aspect several times yesterday IIRC

[Curly]

Is he having some trouble composing himself today?

[Sally Roberts]

Patsy, very good point! Cleethorpes - well I am sure now Grayling will have read your constructive criticism, he'll make sure he follows your advice henceforth ;-)

[Dontmakemelaugh]

Let's not forget the use of anti terrorist police to silence a member of the shadow cabinet and the ejecting of an elederly man from the labour conference for daring to heckle the justice secretrary. This government wishes to know everything you are doing but at the same time stop you from saying anything 'off message'. If this isn't a police state, what is?

Posted by: David | April 12, 2009 at 08:59

Ignorance displayed here, again, I'm afraid

I read that the Special Branch would normally have dealt with the allegations made against Green; however, Special Branch had been amalgamated with the Anti-terrorist branch and henceforth known as the Anti-terrorist squad.

The man ejected from the Labour conference was removed by Labour security and not by police.

The Anti-terrorist squad has saved many lives from terrorists.

I notice that you made no mention of police interviewing and arresting Labour grandees in the cash for honours shenanigans; nor the fact the Blair himself was interviewed by police. Why did you failed to mention those facts? I believe I know why.

You appear, imho, to have invidiously "smeared" police. The media is particularly good at it. That said, police are sometimes at fault and culpable, but not in the instances you suggest.

If you want to know what a police state is read the life and times of Stalin.

[Huntarian]

Well on a slightly different tack, no doubt McPoison would have been in the thick of the spin against Sir Fred and his mighty pension. McPoison presumably as a civil servant would have been accumulating the usual gold plated pension fund. Since he is clearly guilty of a gross breach of the civil service code- i.e. using a government laptop and email account for political purposes why not cancel his civil service pension fund. In any other employment having committed such gross misconduct he would be booted out with zero compensation. How much is his exit package---- we deserve to be told. As the Rev Broon would say- ye shall reap what ye sow

[Steve Foley]

Dr Goebbels must be proud of them!

I am very sickened but not surprised by the likes of Liam Byrne, Stephen Pound and other Labour "worthies" tripping over themselves to say how Guido Fawkes is the wrongdoer and Mc Bride has done the honourable thing by fessing up and resigning.

Just what is honourable about blatant and defamatory lies that allege that Cameron has some "embarrassing" (sexual?) disease especially as only a few weeks ago in the Commons the Labour side were epitomising DC as a decent family man on the death of his child? Where is the honour in despoiling the good name of Nadine Dorries by alleging that she had a "one night stand" with another Tory MP? Would a Man of Honour suggest that George Osborne's wife was emotionally unstable on no more than the hearsay that she was unhappy at a party they attended?

I can find many words in my vocabulary to describe Mc Bride and those who were holding his lead, but as this is a decent forum where Family Values prevail I will content myself with the epithet SCUM for him and his masters.

[radsatser]

Might I suggest a note of caution in celebrating too enthusiastically the own goal by Labour on this matter. I believe a high proportion of the electorate believe this type of behaviour is symptomatic of all the political class, and they may be right. Juvenile and insulting comments, about members of minority parties on this site and others like it are the 'modus operandi' for many party loyalists of Lib/Lab/Con, and I have no doubt in the course of the coming days examples of this type of appalling behaviour against mainstream opponents will implicate this party and the LibDems. If you live in the gutter, don't be surprised when you occasionally have to be cleaned out.

[rcs]

The problem is that the Government are not Gentlemen! Roll on the election.

[Gary Farrimond]

Well if this is to be the tone of how Labour will fight the next election they have lost the arguement.

It must be hard for them on the realisation that their record in government overali is at best lamentable

They have been caught out this time but I doubt it will stop this altogether.

[Leon Bancroft]

Seriously, is it time for a senior conservative to call for Brown's resignation and/or a general election? It will be rejected of course, but it will really drive the message home to the public that this Government is corrupt, incompetent and FINISHED. The thought of another 12 months of this horrendous government wrecking our country makes me lose sleep at night. Is this the time to really turn the screw on Labour?

[seasider]

"Not if people are reminded of it over and over again, it won't! I have made a copy of Jonathan's excellent article so that I can bring out the list whenever necessary and I hope others will do the same."

Good tactic Sally and one I frequently use, particularly some of the less than generous comments from ConHomers and Guido Fawkes.
Generally the public are shocked at the vitriol and bitterness expressed on the sites, do you find that?

[Sally Roberts]

Yes, seasider, I do! Everyone I know regards Guido as "strong stuff" and though they may look at him from time to time I think very few go as far as posting (though as it is all anonymous, one can't be too sure!!) I think even as far as Con Home is concerned, there are many people I know who are deterred from posting here because of the attacks frequently made by posters on anyone seen as a Conservative Party loyalist.

[elizabeth]

There is something rotten in the heart of Gordon Brown's Downing Street, and it has spread to places like Oxfam's HQ in Oxford, which are filled with Draper's and McBride's henchmen: Antonia Bance for instance, who is deputy director of the UK Poverty Programme, and is allegedly using Oxfam for her own party political ambitions, if you go by many of the comments on her blog.

[Malcolm Dunn]

I think radatser has it right. The entire political class have had (yet another) terrible week. The public are going to be amazed at the activities of these people. As Conservatives we have to be and be seen to be better than them always.
Patsy you're wrong. Blair and his cabal were just as nasty and frankly disgusting as Brown and his his. One only has to look at the Times journalist Tom Baldwin (Campbell's mouthpiece) writings about Lord Ashcroft or the activities of Hoon, Campbell and Blair in the days leading up to Dr David Kelly's death.
As I said yesterday, these people are the scum of the earth.
But if Conservative do something wrong, then I hope people on this blog will not seek to defend them as some have done or keep quiet as more have done.We have to prove again and again to a very cynical public that we are different and that we are better.

[radsatser]

"But if Conservative do something wrong, then I hope people on this blog will not seek to defend them as some have done or keep quiet as more have done.We have to prove again and again to a very cynical public that we are different and that we are better".

Posted by: Malcolm Dunn | April 12, 2009 at 13:18

Bang on the nail Malcolm. We have arrived at this very sorry position because we have abandoned the politics of substance for the politics of personality. The problem for all political parties is the electorate long ago stopped believing any of the verbal diarrhoea parties are obsessed with pouring out, and are now demanding action based on honesty and integrity.

[Denis Cooper]

There is prima facie evidence that criminal offences have been committed - misconduct in public office, and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office - and the Shadow Home Secretary should be demanding a police investigation with a view to bringing charges.

NOT wasting his time calling for Brown to apologise, or calling for an early general election.

It shouldn't be necessary for a politician to urge the police and CPS to act, but that is what David Davis did when he was Shadow Home Secretary, regarding Muslim protestors who solicited murder - and ultimately, and rightly, it resulted in convictions and prison sentences.

If the Labour party want to kennel and feed political attack dogs, they should do it entirely at their own expense, not at mine as a taxpayer - and the same with the other parties.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Malcolm @ 13.18 - I amy have given the wrong impression, I certainly didn't mean to imply that Tony Blair's tactics were any better in terms of being honest OR legitimate - after all Angry Campbell dominated HIS cabal! Only that in that one area of character assassination it was more head-on.

Actually, one could speculate that it was perhaps more effective because of that, but before the Tramp gets any ideas, David Cameron has had around two years of head-on battering, especially from this sulky, spoilt, vindictive PM. They have tried every trick they could think of to belittle and undermine him!

By the way Sally, I have also got a sort of list now of many of the other people who have been to Eton - football manager, rowers, actors, broadcasters etc: and I shall also keep that to remind the whiners, that it is envy on their part, that makes them keep on...and on...and on. Empty heads thats it!

[Sally Roberts]

Good for you, Patsy - Happy Easter and keep up the good work! Sadly I suspect that in the eyes of some people the Conservatives are damned whatever course of action they take!

[ToryBlog.com - Not a roon]

Seeing as it never went live, I guess Red Rag was just a smear test.

Only Draper could scrape that low!

[MG]

Jonathan, very good article. It would be useful if ConHome, with the help of its readers, compiled a list of Labour spin from 1997 to 2009.

[Paul Seaman]

Message to Damian McBride and the remaining Labour Party spin-machine: Barack Obama, arguably the most respected politician on earth, said of himself: “Junkie. Pothead. That’s where I’d been headed: the final, fatal role of the young would-be black man. . . . I got high [to] push questions of who I was out of my mind.” Only nLabour thought there’d be mileage in gossip: More..

http://paulseaman.eu/2009/04/only-nlabour-thought-thered-be-mileage-in-gossipe/

[David Sergeant]

It really needs pointing out that spin and smears are fundemental to NuLab since socialism became unsaleable.

It also needs pointing out that NuLab got away with it because Tories never put up a fight. Now the telly is full of Labour MPs and Ministers doing damage limitation. Ask this, if it was the other way round how many Tories would be filling the airwaves?

[UKIP Campaigner]

Pot Kettle Black.

Remember how Tories smeared their own Philip Hollobone MP over his lack of staff.

CCHQ has been smearing Dan Hannan privately since his attack on Brown showed up Dave and Gideon to be gutless idiots.

[Patsy Sergeant]

Thank you Sally @ 14.20, and I hope that the rest of your Easter is enjoyable. Those particular people that you are referring to, are really not worth bothering about. Conservatives are never going to be liked by everybody - even God Himself is not liked (particularly) by everybody!

[Jack Stone]

I don`t think the Prime Minister knew of the details of these e,mails but I think he is behind this sort of campaigning.
I think basically the Prime Minister is our version of Richard Nixon.

[Tristan Downing]

The fact that Labour are still in power even with the worst PM since the term was invented, shows how little honour there is on the Labour benches. If Labour MPs were decent human beings ( I know they aren't) then we could have a vote of no confidence passed through the Commons.

[Stewart Geddes]

There is no way that Gordon Brown could NOT have known about the activities of Mr McBride

[Malcolm Dunn]

Did the Tories ever smear Hollobone, not that I'm aware of. He's respected across the party.
And Cameron praised Hannan's speech, he didn't 'smear' him.
You are typically deluded, 'UKIP Campaigner'. PS Why can't you post under your real name. It's not as if you've anything to lose?

[Andrew Smith]

And how did Michael Howard describe members of another party?

[AlanofEngland]

Surely all these "slurs" are answerable in the courts? Why haven't any writs been issued, demanding considerable damages? Isn't the best way to deal with these people just to ruin them financially? Don't reputations have a price?

[JS]

Like a wounded animal the Labour Party in general and Gordon Brown in particular are both at their most dangerous when cornered or under serious threat. We should not be surprised at these tactics and, indeed, be prepared for much more alleged dirt to be thrown during the run up to the election. Fortunately the electorate are not fools and the majority will treat all this with the contempt it clearly deserves. The Conservative response should not give the perpetrators any satisfaction of thinking we take them too seriously. In the meantime let us hope that McBride returns to the obscurity from which it is a pity he ever emerged.

[Mike]

Wrong and disgraceful as these e mails were, the Tory party hardly has a track record of decency and compassion.
Your party clapped and cheered as your right wing thugs called for Nelson Mandela to be hanged and through the 80s YOUR leader backed Pinochet. Genocide is a bigger issue than a few unseemly e mails! What happened to The Monday Club by the way? Have you tucked it away until you get to power in your attempt to dupe the public that you are now cuddly and nice.
Your leader and many of your MPs support chasing wild animals to exhaustion before tearing them apart for kicks, signs of a very disturbed mindset of cruelty and sadism. So paint yourselves as cuddly but many of us wont buy that EVER.

[Matthew Cain]

Oh get a grip. This is no more a Labour problem than a Tory problem.

So much of the reaction to this story is dishonest and hypocritical. This story just reveals the nature of politics and society.
http://blog.matthewcain.co.uk/damian-mcbride-reaction-dishonest-hypocritical/

[JB]

Given the public distain of nearly all politicians (Widdicombe, Beckett & Cable, etc excepted), it this such a shock or big deal? It should be laughed off as to do otherwise implies that a raw nerve may have been hit. McBride has returned to the gutter, leave him there to fester in his own bile.
Incidentally if a law has been broken by these e-mails, then Staines is in the firing line, not McBride. Having obnoxious thoughts is not yet a crime, publishing them however might well be.

[Jill, London]

Jonathan mentions: “The attempt by Labour to smear Boris Johnson as a bigot and racist when he was first selected as the Conservative mayoral candidate”. I would like to add the pivotal point of the Comrades’ campaign were more smears that Boris was a “clown” – and “joke” – with the slogan “Don’t vote for a joke”.

This is from “The Independent” – “In an interview with The Independent, Tessa Jowell, the minister for London who heads Labour's campaign, said: "The risk of Johnson is going to be the focus of the campaign in the last week. […] This is not a job for somebody who is regarded as a clown.” AND “Labour will flood the capital with 4.2 million "risk card" postcards highlighting the danger of electing the popular Tory MP and television celebrity. One says: "Don't vote for a joke. Vote for London." The common theme across the cards is that "suddenly he's not so funny".”
Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-launches-offensive-to-stop-highrisk-boris-becoming-mayor-815845.html

Not only was this smear campaign fully endorsed by Comrade Livingstone, but B-Liar’s ‘mouthpiece’ Comrade Campbell published an article in the Left-friendly “Mirror” headlined: “'Voting Boris the clown in would be a disaster for London.. and Britain', says Alastair Campbell” and the article starts: “It is not Boris Johnson's fault that he looks like he does, has silly middle names and a silly voice. Nor is it his fault that he went to Eton.”
Link: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/2008/04/21/voting-boris-the-clown-in-would-be-a-disaster-for-london-and-britain-says-alistair-campbell-89520-20390158/

And – again from the Left-friendly “Mirror”: “It also emerged Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair had advised Mr Livingstone.”
Link: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/04/25/ken-livingstone-launches-fierce-attack-on-boris-johnson-115875-20394224/

Ultimately the “joke” backfired on the Comrades as Boris won! And I hope the antics of McBride – now exposed – has a similar effect at the next General Election!

[Fed Up Fred]

It's shameful that our 'Civil' Servants right at the heart of this loathsome administration can find the time for this sort of putrid exercise.
Shouldn't sorting out failures to equip British troops properly as they battle daily in not one but two theatres of war should come slightly higher up their priority list?