Coalition builds against Downing Street ‘cesspit’
By Ian Dunt
A strange and very loose-knit coalition of former Labour ministers and smeared Tories has formed to condemn the Downing Street “cesspit” which produced Damian McBride’s emails.
Yesterday saw four prominent Labour figures, all of whom had been at the receiving end of hostile briefings, speak out against the tactic, including Alan Milburn, Frank Field and Matthew Taylor.
Meanwhile, smeared Tory MP Nadine Dorries said it was not enough for Gordon Brown to “throw staff to the wolves” because they merely “espoused his values”.
“It is the cesspit of 10 Downing Street and to say that we are all tarred with the same brush as Damian McBride is unacceptable,” said the MP for Mid Bedfordshire.
“It is the culture of 10 Downing Street. Downing Street was operating according to the values of the prime minister.”
Today, Cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell responded to a letter from Francis Maude, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, confirming no ministers or other special advisors were aware of the emails or plans to set up Red Rag.
He said he had written to the secretaries of all departments so special advisors would sign a code of understanding regulating their behaviour.
It remains unclear, however, how this changes the legal situation, given that Mr McBride’s behaviour was already banned by paragraph 12 of the pre-existing code, imposed during Tony Blair’s tenure as prime minister.
Mr McBride resigned over the Easter weekend when details of the emails – which included libellous and unsubstantiated statements about the David Cameron, George Osborne and their wives, among others, became public.
The content of the emails is by definition un-publishable due to legal ramifications, but they have been doing the rounds in Westminster.
The idea was for the smears to be published on a new website, called Red Rag, which would form part of Labour’s counterattack on the culture of right wing blogs.
While LabourList – edited by Derek Draper, the recipient of the emails – would counter ConservativeHome, Red Rag was intended to mirror the more flippant tone of Order-Order, Guido Fawke’s blog.
Attention is turning to Tom Watson, Cabinet Office minister, and how much he knew about the plan to create Red Rag.
Mr Draper made an apology on LabourList last night, saying he would now take some time to decide whether to stay on as editor.
Mr Field, who spearheaded the campaign against Mr Brown’s 10p tax debacle, but later apologised to him in parliament for allowing it to become “personal”, last night implied the prime minister had “a dark side”.
“There are two sides to the prime minister’s character – there is this very civilised, generous, informed side, and there is this other side which is about controlling people,” he said.
“Harold Wilson asserted that the Labour party was a moral crusade or it was nothing. The McBride affair has left Labour members looking at nothing. That is the reality check that McBride has wrought on the party.
“Mr McBride thought he was doing his master’s bidding – he wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”
Mr Milburn, former health secretary, said: “It is very, very important in my view that, as a consequence of the events of these last few days, that we end this sort of approach to politics, which demeans politics, is completely out of kilter with the culture of Labour politics – and that we end it once and for all.
“It is morally unacceptable and it has inflicted huge damage on the Labour party and the Labour government.”
Stephen Byers, former industry secretary, added: “I have been the victim of McBride’s aggressive and hostile media briefing on a number of occasions.
“If there remain people close to the prime minister who are thinking of fighting the forthcoming general election in a personal and dirty way, they should go and go now.”
Matthew Taylor, former director of strategy at Number 10, also admitted being the subject of “a nasty smear allegedly circulated by Damian McBride”.
Writing on his blog, he said: “I’m not sure whether Brown’s bad side is that much worse than anyone else’s but it feels so because of his carefully cultivated image as a man of unblemished high-mindedness.”
Mr Brown has been furiously trying to distance himself from the scandal, but questions have been raised about why Mr McBride was only forced to leave on Saturday afternoon, nearly 24 hours after the existence of the emails became public knowledge.
