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Damning proof that vicious dirty tricks website did involve highest levels of party
THE VILE website at the centre of the vicious plot to smear top Tories was set up with the help of the boss of the Labour Party, the News of the World can sensationally reveal today.
A new email shows that Labour's General Secretary Ray Collins chaired a secret meeting to create the Red Rag website now ensnared in the Smeargate scandal.
The email's existence links the dirty tricks site to the very TOP of the Labour Party.
And it exposes the LIE, put out by Downing Street, and repeated by government ministers this week, that the smears were just a minor aberration cooked up by a couple of renegades acting alone-and which would never have seen light of day.
The new email, written by Labour's then internet campaign chief Derek Draper, PROVES that the meeting took place, reveals WHO was there, WHERE it was held and WHAT was on the agenda. It shows that Collins travelled across Westminster for a summit in the offices of trade union bigwig Charlie Whelan. Whelan, one of Gordon Brown's closest friends and his former chief spin doctor, was described last night by a Labour insider as the Prime Minister's "unofficial Mr Fix-It".
Joining Collins and Whelan at the meeting were the two men whose leaked smear emails later brought the scandal to light: Damian McBride and Draper.
Appal
McBride, another of the Prime Minister's closest aides, was forced to resign last week after it emerged that he and Draper conspired to spread false and sinister stories about Tory leader David Cameron, Shadow Chancellor George Osborne and other Tories.
Draper has since been cold-shouldered by the party, too.
Also in the room was the man who was to be the public face of Red Rag, Unite press officer Andrew Dodgshon, as well as political journalist Kevin Maguire, who was there in a private capacity.
News of the meeting, and the presence at it of the Labour Party's General Secretary, will horrify and appal senior party workers and Labour MPs who have already been disgusted by the smear campaign.
The email reveals the meeting took place on December 1 last year at Unite's London HQ, on King's Street, Westminster, seven weeks before McBride sent an explosive email to Draper outlining "stories" for the site.
Last week, after the News of the World's revelations about the shocking extent of the smears, Collins slammed McBride and Draper, while he avoided mentioning his own role in the scandal.
Collins carefully followed a line taken by Derek Draper, husband of GMTV's Kate Garraway, and McBride that they acted alone.
Draper claimed: "The idea that it was a big project orchestrated in Downing Street is ridiculous."
However, our revelations show that Collins knew about the Red Rag site more than four months ago and did NOTHING to stop it-in fact he did the opposite.
Collins also tried to distance himself from Draper last week.
"I want to reiterate that Derek Draper does not hold a position or role with the Labour Party and this will remain the case," he said.
Yet the General Secretary himself recruited Draper last year to try to set up a unit inside the Labour Party to attack the Tories using the internet.
We can reveal that despite internal opposition Collins granted Draper a pass to Labour Party HQ in Westminster, and even allowed him a Labour Party email account.
Both were quietly rescinded by Collins this week after furious protests from staff following our Smeargate revelations.
The Red Rag site was borne out out of those foundations, and was set up on November 4, 2008, weeks before the secret meeting.
Daft
A shocked Labour party insider told us: "It is devastating that Collins was there. It was a meeting called to set up, run and work out how to finance the Red Rag site.
"It's no coincidence either that it wasn't held at Labour Party HQ, or that it was at Charlie Whelan's offices in Unite.
"Whelan is back as Gordon Brown's unofficial Mr Fix-it, and he's now so powerful that he's effectively running the party.
"If anyone in the party was still daft enough to believe the Downing Street line about this being minor, this email finally exposes that lie." Whelan was copied in to the vile emails between McBride and Draper and his role in the meeting at the Unite HQ raises further questions about how closely the union was involved in the dirty tricks campaign.
He is political director of Unite, which has two million members.
It is now the largest donor to the Labour Party, and it's cash is effectively paying the near-bankrupt party's wages as it struggles to manage debts topping £16million.
Last night Collins, himself a former assistant general secretary of Unite, admitted he attended the Red Rag website meeting but insisted he did not know about the McBride smears.
He told us: "I have had no knowledge whatsoever of any smears and found the stories and reports of the last week absolutely disgusting.
"I did attend a meeting at the Unite Head Office on December 1 to discuss online digital campaigning and how we could support and encourage left of centre websites and bloggers.
"This meeting was not about scurrilous rumour, personal attacks or smears as I would have been furious that such things could be seen as legitimate tools of political debate."
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This article has 53 comments
Is Alice Mahon really the only person in the Labour Party with any integrity these days?
Where are all the other moral and ethical members of the Labour Party? There must be a few, surely.
Why aren't they expressing their outrage at all of this a little more vocally, or even with their feet.
This can't be what most of the Labour Party membership signed up for - or is it? The slime and dirt is coming from the top but it doesn't have to be tolerated by those not in the cabinet or even in government.
By Sam.. Posted April 20 2009 at 1:13 PM.
why the surprise of the police brutality at the G8 demo. remember their faces when they beat up the countryside alliance, (decent people). I have long lost respect for this shameless goverment and their puppets the police
By ann turner.. Posted April 19 2009 at 9:08 PM.
Who gives a damn.
By Collin.. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:47 PM.
In cleaning up my computer, I came across the following:
""SOMETHING TO PONDER OVER
Common knowledge?
Can you imagine working for a company that has a little more than 600 employees and has the following employee statistics:
29 have been accused of spouse abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
9 have been accused of writing bad cheques
17 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card .
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shop-lifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drink driving in the last year
Which organisation is this?
It's the 635 members of the House of Commons, the same group that cranks out hundreds of new laws each year designed to keep the rest of us in line.
And to top all that they probably have the best "corporate" pension scheme in the country"".
Don't you just love Brown and his Labour Party MPs who are feathering their own nests for what hopefully will be a very long retirement while robbing blind the rest of us - especially pensioners - generally, Occupational Pension victims and Equitable Life sufferers who have not been compensated as a result of losing out to Brown's bodged regulatory reforms.
Roland
By Roland.. Posted April 19 2009 at 6:30 PM.
Each day Gordon Brown looks more and more like Tricky Dick Nixon.
He has never been elected Prime MInister and yet he refuses to call an election and let the country decide who they want as prime minister.
The country has already decided Mr Brown.
You need to resign!
By Bruce.. Posted April 19 2009 at 5:31 PM.
What kind of a Labour Party-
1.Ruins the national health service,
2.Gives old age pensioners the worst pension in Europe,
3.Allows massive unlimited immigration to throw British workers out of jobs?
The Labour Party needs to fix itself and you need to leave Mr Brown!
By Bruce.. Posted April 19 2009 at 5:35 PM.
Another honest open question:-
What choice do we actually have. The Tories were exactly the same - the sleaze got so bad that labour was the option and we were promised it wouldnt be the same. It is exactly the same. Now the Tories are telling us they are different - frankly they are not. Until the ridiculous expenses and lavish benefits and lifestyles are brought to an end nothing is every going to change. It is our money they are throwing away and we get told time and time again we will have services etc cut yet we pay more and more. A radical change is needed not just a party change. Unfortunately a general election wont resolve much - better the devil you know springs to mind.
By Jane.. Posted April 19 2009 at 5:03 PM.
It would be really funny if there was a tory scandal,
would he get his advisors job back.
By toby tuck.. Posted April 19 2009 at 4:36 PM.
Why would anyone want to vote for these muppets? They have destroyed the economy, overspent while they told us they were prudent. Told us the economy was stable and yet it nosedived. There have been a series events which meant Mandelson was asked to leave the government on more than one occasion and Brown brings him back in as a LORD. This is the worst form corruption.
MP's abuse the expense system and become millionaires and avoiding taxes while passing laws which means I have less and less disposable income available to me. GREED, Corruption and a failed economy are all Labour hallmarks
By Steve Tea.. Posted April 19 2009 at 3:43 PM.
This is an honest open question to NOTW readers.
What can we do to force a general election and get rid of the corrupt Marxist government that is destroying our country and ruining our reputation around the world? It's down to the public to force the change. We must show our displeasure, we must protest (peacefully), if you care about your country, about your future and the future of your children we have to do something NOW! We ARE in crisis.
By Jon Hales.. Posted April 19 2009 at 2:48 PM.
Labour sells us ordinary folk down the river every time doesn't it. They use us as voting fodder in the name of representing us then, once in power on fat salaries and pensions, they totally desert us and disregard our needs. I am not surprised an old traditional Labour Party member and former MP has resigned in disgust. At least she has integrity.
By Janet.. Posted April 19 2009 at 1:20 PM.
We need an election now before Labour destroy the country beyond repair. That's if it's not already too late!
By john.. Posted April 19 2009 at 12:50 PM.
I am old enough to remember the Governments of people like George Brown. The story is always the same same, Labour gets in and rides 1st class on the gravy train, ruins the country, Tories get in, try to put things back into some semblance of order, Labour run smear campaign (and justified with Major administration), Labour get in.....
What dave tries to spin is that the Tories never did the "honourable thing". What a load of twaddle. Yes, there were denials and attempts to get out of it, but when the sh*t hit the fan, they resigned and, most if not all, never reappeared.
Take this current Labour lot. They get caught, they're defended to the end by their own party apparatus, if possible, they get promoted to something else, even better (Mandelson). The exception is when they are a threat to Brown and his lies and deceipt - then, they get burned. Corrupt to the core, that's ZaNu Labour.
By Rainer Unsinn.. Posted April 19 2009 at 11:44 AM.
I do not know why every newspaper we read informs us that Derek Draper is married to Kate Garraway. I would not have thought that is anything to be proud of. She is the most irritating woman on television.
By Jonathan .. Posted April 19 2009 at 11:32 AM.
The real shame of it all is that most of us electors are effectively disenfranchised. You can't put a fag paper between NuLabour and the Torys, the Lib/Dems have no chance so who the hell can we vote FOR rather than against? Obvious answer is no one.
By Richard Wells.. Posted April 19 2009 at 11:32 AM.
What on earth do you expect any body with a memory will rember that every time a labour party gets power the run the country into the ground and then blame the the tories from twenty years ago
By dave.. Posted April 19 2009 at 11:22 AM.
Our Government and MPs in general cannot be trusted. They get ( not earn ) fat cat wages and lots of money making perks but is this enough to buy their luxuries , no its not they have the John Lewis list of goods they can obtain free at tax payers expence .
There are countless people working harder and longer hours who dont earn a 1/3 of the income MPs get . MPs expect the ordinary workers to accept wage increases below the rate of inflation but always award theirselves increases way above the rate of inflation.
Here are my discriptions of MPs and the Government.
Lazy Arrogant Brazen Odious Useless Rogues .
Money Pilfering society .
People used to want to become MPs to serve the public , not anymore , now it's an easy way to get very rich very quickly and for doing very little.
Its supposed to be a Government for the people by the people , so when are they going to think of the rest of us instead of themselves and how they can get more easy money.
There once was a Country called GREAT BRITAIN that was Admired and Respected around the globe .
WHERE IS THAT COUNTRY NOW?
By M . Zalek.. Posted April 19 2009 at 11:21 AM.
Labour = 666
By Michelle.. Posted April 19 2009 at 11:18 AM.
A very corrupt party indeed.
By martin.. Posted April 19 2009 at 10:52 AM.
new labour bears no resemblance to the labour party they should be kicked out know and sued. they are a bunch of thieves,liers,and scumbags.i.e MANDLESON.
By fred.. Posted April 19 2009 at 10:29 AM.
I doubt most of you are old enough to remember the Conservatives before Labour came to office. They didn't 'fall on their swords' as the obvious Conservative lover informs us, they just like Labour had to be leveraged from their office, all Labour are doing is exactly the same things as the Conservatives did back in their day.
You really think if the Conservatives get into power things will be any different? Voting for Cameron or Osbourne whose only real jobs or career aspirations have been following the conservatives around and trying to get them elected. With occasional weekends at the 'Bullington Boys Club' a 'club' for city and old Etonians, if you're not wearing the old school tie you're not coming in!
You think they're going to turn the clock back, perhaps give back all the rights we've lost. If you do you're seriously DELUDED! Get off your soap box and come back down to Reality!
What we've found is a vote for the conservatives if you're honest with yourself was the same as a vote for Labour, they both ended up being purely in it for themselves! The only difference being Labour didn't set up a 'Tax Payers Alliance' to muddy the waters of politics during the conservatives reign!
What you need to realise is that BOTH the main parties are in it just for they're own benefit as in all probability are most of the others! If there's NO perks to being in Goverment, then ask yourself WHY they're so keen to be in it?
By Dave.. Posted April 19 2009 at 10:13 AM.
Any politican who was any good like Ian Powell, is mocked and thrown away. No good complaining at the ones in power now. People get the governments they deserve.
By Anne Wotana Kaye.. Posted April 19 2009 at 9:53 AM.
Well ! You lot have asked for what you have got! You voted them in and you allowed their spin doctors trhat you faced the gravest danger if you didnt grant the police their extra powers to kkep any legitimate protest down, it was you who buried your heads in the sand whilst the people you elected gathered themselves around the solid gold pigswill trough scooping out small untaxed fortunes in unsupported expenses. It was you who voted them in to send our young men off to an illegal was in Iraq and had them deny us the sight of coffins coming back at Lynham. It was you that allowed the wounded to be abused in NHS hospitals and for them to be neglected, who suffer battle fatigue and let their widows and children live on a pittance whilst a trivial complainant is allowed £££thousands because someone had the stupidity to make a racial remark. You can lay the problem against your own front door! You allowed it to happen with a slip of the pen.
By Philip Harrison.. Posted April 19 2009 at 9:40 AM.
When I voted for Blair and his New Labour project back in 1997, I did it with fingers crossed. I thought anybody could govern the country better than John Major and Tory sleaze. How much I regret doing that now. I have only ever voted Labour twice in my life and lived to regret it. The Tories might have had their noses well and truly in the trough of privileges and opportunities for self-advancement but you never got the impression that they didn’t know what they were doing; and if they ever got found out they did the honourable thing and fell on their swords. On the other hand, Labour ministers who foul-up have to be levered out of Office and fringe-benefits that go with the job; or they are promised a peerage or a cosy job with the European Commission. Anything is better than returning to the back-benches and being an ordinary MP. This happens time and time again. Are these people Teflon-coated? Does nothing ever stick to them? Are they never responsible for anything? And when they are finally gotten rid of how come they are never off the TV or radio? Simon Cowell ought to start a show called “Britain Needs Leadership”. Rehearsals should be starting now!
By Gordo.. Posted April 19 2009 at 9:20 AM.
Shouldn't these politians be doing the job there getting paid for instead of going on about stupid emails. We have a global financial crisis on our hands here and all where hearing is silly emails. Who the hell is interested? I'm sure everyone is more interested in getting our countrys ecconomy moving again a making our jobs safer. Come on governent, let's make our country strong again and let's stop going on about silly things like emails.
By Dean Hansen.. Posted April 19 2009 at 9:06 AM.
can i state that i actually don't care about either tories or labour and i think there are far worse things going on in the world than childish name calling which has been a part of politics for years. They need to all grow up and get on with the job they are paid to do by us! I wouldn't tolerate such infantile behaviour from my employees and i think the massive over reaction from the tories is almost like a child telling teacher.. Idiots the lot of them!
By adz.. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:32 AM.
The party which so many have supported thro hard times has been constantly let dow....first by incompetents ,M Foot ,N Kinnock and then by the knave Blair.Now it is the turn of the incompetent knaves,spinning expenses,hiring blue movies for inadequate husbands and indulging in this disgusting behaviour.Time to leave the party & take my vote elsewhere.
By p doff.. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:28 AM.
Why do politicians have to spend so much time sniping instead of running the country.
Wouldn't it be nice to have a government that spends its time and resources doing the job they are employed to do, instead of trying to ruin the credibility of the oposition.
By Karen.. Posted April 19 2009 at 8:27 AM.
Going a bit over the top aren't you? Calm down a bit lads.
By Norman.. Posted April 19 2009 at 7:42 AM.
Union members don't have to support Labour. When I joined the Royal Mail some years ago I opted out of paying the political levy portion of the Communication Worker's Union subs.
By Tony York.. Posted April 19 2009 at 6:27 AM.
what go;s round come;s round. wake up every body. labour;s not for the working class. them day;s have long gone
By malcolm.. Posted April 19 2009 at 5:10 AM.
what go;s round come;s round. wake up every body. labour;s not for the working class. them day;s have long gone
By malcolm.. Posted April 19 2009 at 5:08 AM.
All the tories need to win is one simple policy
"OUT OF EUROPE NOW"
human rights, politcal correctness, corruption.
What a joke we've become.
Any "asylum seeker" arriving here from France should be sent straight back. If Sarkozy doesn't like
CLOSE THE TUNNEL!!
By Keith.. Posted April 19 2009 at 2:10 AM.
We, in Australia, also have labour federal and state govts - corrupt, wasting money, incompenent, spend fortunes on spin doctors and enrich themselves.
Why are people so blind? Every labour government is the same and they are supposed to be the workers party.
Orwell was right, all equal, some more equal than others.
The main problem is the oppositions just cannot get their act together, UK, OZ, the lot.
I pity our successors.
By mike.. Posted April 19 2009 at 2:02 AM.
Unite members - remember its not just the political levee that funds Labour, no your subs are also paying for weasels like Charlie Whelan who is working for Brown not Unite.
By David in Rome.. Posted April 19 2009 at 2:01 AM.
Further proof, were it ever needed, that the only thing Labour and their cohorts ever really concentrate on properly are their expenses fiddles.
Unite members would be well advised to change unions before this fiddling lot ruin their union in a desperate attempt to keeep the good times rolling for the 'In-Crowd'.
A control freak like Brown would never tolerate not knowing everything that was being done to keep him from having to face the electorate on a fair basis, having amply demonstrated in his past that he is quite happy to use deceit to get his way.
Not enough lifebelts left now though, for all those who will jump overboard before SS New Labour finally sinks in it's own muck.
By Ken.H.. Posted April 19 2009 at 2:05 AM.
It's beyond belief that this odious government are allowed to carry on regardless as this Country spins down the pan. Gordon Brown (unelected) was at liberty to call a general election in November 2007, but got cold feet and pathetically declined.
Why is it then, that the people of Britain can't call for a vote of no confidence in this New Labour "project" and therefore propel forward, the prospect of a Summer election later this Year? Who is it that actually serves "we the people" these days in modern Britain? It's certainly not New Labour - as they only serve themselves.
By Jim Carr.. Posted April 19 2009 at 1:48 AM.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more damaging e-mails to come!
By .. Posted April 19 2009 at 1:21 AM.
Toast...!
Its over for ZanuLabour
By Agent 99.. Posted April 19 2009 at 12:36 AM.
It seems to me that with all the sleaze and corruption that is surfacing the members of the government are too busy hosing down the stable and don't have time to run the country. At this time of financial meltdown we need a competent government that can devote its time to managing the economy.
Perhaps it really is time for a vote of confidence in the House of Commons. It would give all the Labour MPs who have been trampled on by Brown and his wrecking crew a platform. Who would back Brown now?
By M. Plonquer.. Posted April 19 2009 at 12:25 AM.
Have we ever had a worse Government?
We have never had one leave us in such a bad state. And they haven't left yet.
I note Maguire's name - with no surprise.
By Sal .. Posted April 19 2009 at 12:27 AM.
Nasty Labour have no honour and no shame. They still think they can spin their criminal way out of this?
They've stolen our votes, stolen our liberties, stolen our language with their dogmatic peecee management-speak and now here they are revealed. Hypocritical lying parasites.
The country needs a General Election before 2010. I know of no-one who still has any confidence in corrupt nulabor; even loyal lefties have wised up.
By Jodi.. Posted April 19 2009 at 12:17 AM.
I feel sorry for the Unite members who are subsidising the lavish lifestyles of the NuLabour elite - penthouses, second & third homes, children at private schools, free porn movies, you name it.
Keir Hardie's cap must be twisting in his grave.
By Doctor Mick.. Posted April 18 2009 at 11:43 PM.
General Election. NOW!
By Alex.. Posted April 18 2009 at 11:40 PM.
Brown corruption has spread. The real character of Brown and Labour is glimpsed. Now it is shown how it invents lies and smears to destroy people and families. All these people are long term Brown Labour fanatics usually operating in a hidden world. They are vicious brutal lying thugs with no proper values. Brown stopped border controls so mass immigration has now spawned 300 active terrorist plots. Brown put in cheat inflation measures hiking the house boom and bust. Brown stopped safe bank rules so Northern Rock, RBS and HBOS went bust; but Brown's 'best and true friend' Fred got a huge pension approved by Brown's City minister.
By roll.. Posted April 18 2009 at 10:34 PM.
Note to sleaze-mongers: Can we have our party back please?
By steve, in Cardiff.. Posted April 18 2009 at 10:33 PM.
I totally concur with the comments relating to the political levy. Its time union members woke up and saw what is being done in their name by their leaders. For too long, unions have deliberately obscured an opt out of the political levy just to keep their true masters happy at the expense of their members. In the past 11 years members have been sold down the river by their leaders paying their way with union funds into safe Labour seats just to get at the big trough at Westminster. Wake up guys, no one involved with the nasty party is looking after your interests any more !
By Mike.. Posted April 18 2009 at 10:21 PM.
The New Labour Project is almost dead.
Three Cheers....
..and the 1997 Labour slogan: 'Things can only get better' is every bit as true today as it was then.
By Geoff Reid.. Posted April 18 2009 at 10:20 PM.
This sordid tale does no credit to the people who run our country. I hope the PM is not implicated, but revelations in different newspapers today about people very near to him suggest that he should take the chance to have a snap reshuffle, and get rid of the poison that will otherwise bring him down for sure next year.
By anthony.. Posted April 18 2009 at 10:16 PM.
Another lie exposed. This is the worst goverment ever. Why though are the Conservatives not tearing Labour apart? Thanks anyway to the NOTW for finding the ammunition. Surely the Conservatives can now fire the bullets!
By Peter.. Posted April 18 2009 at 10:10 PM.
The plot thickens, how much more needs to come out before our great leader calls a general election so he can be kicked out of his seat with his failed, tainted government.
How long before our great leader is himself implecated in this mess. I am ashamed to be british.
By Don, London.. Posted April 18 2009 at 9:52 PM.
i would say to every unite member stop your subs going fund the labour party doing this in your name. you can fill in a form that stops them giving any of your money to the labour party. I speak as a trade union member who is disgusted with new labour. These are not what decent trade unionists want to be associated with.
By mick.. Posted April 18 2009 at 9:44 PM.
the red roosters are coming home to roost.
By ronald dye.. Posted April 18 2009 at 9:41 PM.