The Red Rag blogsite was at the centre of a UK political scandal that became known as Smeargate. The scandal broke on 11 April 2009 when it was reported that Gordon Brown's special adviser, Damian McBride, had sent a series of emails to New Labour political blogger Derek Draper discussing plans to set up the blog which would be used to post false rumours about the private lives of senior members of the Conservative Party and their spouses.[1][2][3][4][5] The website was never launched according to The Register.[6] The emails from January 2009, which had been sent from the Downing Street Press Office, were initially leaked to blogger Paul Staines.[7]
Draper and McBride initially tried to play down the plans. McBride stated "To call it an orchestrated smear campaign is ridiculous. It was just some ill-judged gossip between friends which was never meant to see the light of day. They appear to be some ideas – laid out in embarrassing detail – for stories which could appear on a Left-wing version of the Guido Fawkes blog called Red Rag. They’re all stories which have been doing the rounds in Westminster for a while, written up in a scurrilous style. But the website has never appeared, so it’s hard to see what it was all about."[8]
McBride resigned on 11 April 2009 after it was discovered that the site had been registered since November 2008 and the planned launch was only stopped in April 2009.[9] Draper resigned as editor of LabourList on 7 May 2009.[10]
References edit
- ^ "Timeline: Damian McBride email smears row". The Guardian. London. 14 April 2009.
- ^ "Sex, lies and sordid photos to promote Labour website". The Australian. 13 April 2009.
- ^ "Key people in e-mail smear row". BBC News. 14 April 2009.
- ^ "How the Labour smear email story unfolded". The Daily Telegraph. 13 April 2009.
- ^ "E-mail smears MP 'paid damages'". BBC News. 29 October 2009.
- ^ "Tory MP to sue over sex smear email". The Register. 7 September 2009.
- ^ Fawkes, Guido (17 April 2009). "Why did so few stand up to the spin machine". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
- ^ Hope, Christopher (10 April 2009). "Row as Number 10 emails 'smear Tories'". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009.
- ^ Hinsliff, Gaby (11 April 2009). "Damian McBride forced to quit over 'sex smear scandal'". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Labour insider Derek Draper stands down". Brand Republic. 7 May 2009.