Damian McBride Hits Out At Labour Critics

Damian McBride has hit out at some of his Labour critics as he said he did not believe Ed Miliband or Ed Balls knew about his smear operations.

Gordon Brown’s former spin doctor claimed many who had condemned his actions during Labour‘s time in power were “not entirely innocent”.

Mr McBride said he could accept criticism from new MPs who were not around during the Blair-Brown years but not from those who also played a part in the feuding.

“Other people were quite clearly involved in these years – and are not entirely innocent themselves,” he told the Daily Mail. “It’s a bit hard to take.

“Maybe it’s because some people have got old scores to settle that there’s a feeling that this is a chance to give me a kicking – and by extension give some old enemies a kicking.”

Mr McBride has sparked fury in the party for dredging up Labour’s past by publishing his memoirs as it holds its party conference in Brighton.

Both Mr Miliband and Mr Balls, who were at the heart of Mr Brown’s team when he was in Downing Street, have moved to distance themselves from their former colleague.

Mr Brown repeatedly refused to comment or condemn Mr McBride when challenged about the book – called Power Trip – during a visit to the United Nations on Monday.

But others, including Tony Blair’s former communications chief Alastair Campbell, have attacked the publication and called him a disgrace.

Mr McBride admitted he will have angered his former boss by lifting the lid on his years of spinning and smearing behind the scenes.

“He will be both angry at some of the revelations and angry at the assumption that there is guilt by association,” he told the Mail.

“I regret that he will be feeling like that. But I don’t think there was a way to tell my story without being open about this stuff.”

In a separate interview, the former aide said Mr Brown never asked about his methods – which involved smearing potential leadership rivals.

“I don’t think he knew what I was doing a lot of the time. I operated a lot of the time in the shadows…,” he said.

“Gordon knew he got from me media influence that was unparalleled and access to different bits of the media that other politicians couldn’t reach.

“He never asked me quite how do you pull this off, because he just thought it was my personal relationship with journalists.”

And in what will be a relief to Mr Miliband and Mr Balls, he said they would have known even less about his activities.

“I didn’t work with them on a day-to-day basis in the way I did with Gordon,” he told BBC’s Newsnight.

Mr McBride admitted he was “ashamed” about how he had treated some Labour politicians but insisted he did not break the law.

Tory MP Alun Cairns has told the Met Police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe that he is “deeply concerned that serious offences may have been committed” and asked for an investigation.

The book suggests Mr McBride accessed Mr Brown’s emails without his authorisation when he was chancellor, which Mr Cairns claims could breach the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

He also called for a probe into whether Mr McBride leaked confidential documents in breach of the Official Secrets Act.

Fellow MP Henry Smith has also written to a Whitehall watchdog over what he called “serious and repeated breaches” of the civil service and special adviser codes of conduct.

He suggested the former adviser should be stripped of his civil service pension, which is being funded by the taxpayer.

Mr McBride said: “I am sure that I wasn’t committing any criminal offences. I wouldn’t leak confidential documents and I would take pains to not do so.

“I would be happy to talk to the police if they wanted an explanation. I was denied all sorts of things when I was forced to resign.

“If they want to take my pension away as well, then that’s up to them. If that’s what the civil service want to do, if they think it’s appropriate, that’s up to them.”

He revealed he would make more than £100,000 from the book deal but insists he could have doubled his money by waiting to publish until the eve of the general election.

Damian McBride Hits Out At Labour Critics