[andrewb]

Well I thought this was an important news story as it's been unfolding, but it seems to have got much bigger than I thought. My blog posts on it are getting hammered from Google searches, far, far more than at any previous time

Damian McBride is Gordon Browns special adviser, he's been with him since he started at the treasury and is still with him now as PM. He's the head of strategy in Downing Street. He's been caught collaborating in false smear campaigns against the Conservatives. He sent e-mails to a Labour blogger named Derek Draper, who runs LabourList.org. They even discuss that they will put the smears on a new anonymous website, named Red Rag. They claim it was banter between friends and was never intended to be published, however other ministers were copied into the e-mails, and the Red Rag website was purchased, so it was ready to go live.

Yesterday Damian McBride resigned. I expect Derek Draper will go soon too.