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Brown aide reveals PM slur anger Brown aide reveals PM slur anger
(about 1 hour later)
Damian McBride, the Downing Street aide who quit over Tory e-mail smears, says Gordon Brown was so angry about the messages he could hardly speak. Damian McBride, the Downing Street aide who quit over e-mail smears about the Tories, says Gordon Brown had been so angry he could hardly speak.
In his first broadcast interview since he resigned, the former special adviser told the BBC he was ashamed of the lurid e-mails he wrote from Number 10.In his first broadcast interview since he resigned, the former special adviser told the BBC he was ashamed of the lurid e-mails he wrote from Number 10.
He left his post in April after a blogger revealed their contents.He left his post in April after a blogger revealed their contents.
He said when he spoke to the prime minister about the messages Mr Brown "immediately agreed" he had to go.He said when he spoke to the prime minister about the messages Mr Brown "immediately agreed" he had to go.
The former adviser's job was to manage the way the press treated Mr Brown. The former adviser's job was to try to manage the way the press treated Mr Brown.
But e-mails he wrote from his Downing Street computer making false accusations about senior Conservatives landed on the front pages of the newspapers. 'Deadly silent'
Election 'mishandled' But when e-mails he wrote from his Downing Street computer making false and offensive accusations about senior Conservatives were revealed, he resigned.
In the messages, Mr McBride made offensive and unfounded claims about David Cameron's and George Osborne's personal lives. At the time he apologised for the "inappropriate and juvenile content of my e-mails, and the offence they have caused".
He called the suggestions "a few ideas I've been working on for Red Rag" - a reference to a Labour website. Downing Street said Mr Brown had known nothing about the emails but he later apologised for the episode. Mr McBride had been one of the prime minister's closest advisers.
At the time of his resignation, Mr McBride apologised for the "inappropriate and juvenile content of my e-mails, and the offence they have caused". In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire programme, Mr McBride described the moment he had to explain himself to Mr Brown.
Now, in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire programme, as well as expressing his regret over the smears, he also admitted mishandling coverage of a mooted general election in the autumn of 2007. "I had to tell him the content of these e-mails, which is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. His reaction, as he said himself, was I think probably so angry and mortified that he couldn't really speak, at least initially, about what I'd actually done.
He goes on to accuse former government ministers, such as North Tyneside MP Stephen Byers, of vitriolic briefings against Mr Brown. "That's characteristic of Gordon despite the myths that go round about him losing his temper. When I think he's just genuinely angry he can be very sort of just deadly silent."
Mr McBride, who had a reputation for staunchly defending his boss, admits it was part of his job to respond to those attacks. He added that when he said he knew he had to resign, Mr Brown "immediately agreed with that".
'Feeding frenzy'
Mr McBride said he had not thought properly about the "quite nasty content" of the e-mails and had said to himself "What the hell were you thinking?"
The former special adviser, who was nicknamed "McPoison", said the emails did not reflect the way Mr Brown operated and insisted his job did not involve smearing people.
"If that had been the case then people would have been able to come out during that feeding frenzy in the week after I resigned and point to specific circumstances, specific instances where individuals had been smeared, attacked in a personal way," he said.
His special adviser status meant he had been allowed to give partisan - and sometimes strident - political briefings to journalists.
He also gained a reputation for his tirades delivered via text message to reporters whose stories he disliked, although he has said he could count "on one hand" journalists to whom he had sent angry messages.
In the BBC interview, Mr McBride said his "McPoison" nickname was "inevitable" given his role working for Mr Brown at the height of the "tension" between the then chancellor and former PM Tony Blair.
"There was a lot of tension there ... That was always overblown to some extent but when that did come out and expressed itself in vitriolic briefings against Gordon ... then inevitably part of my job was reacting to that."
He accused Labour backbencher Frank Field and former Blairite cabinet ministers Charles Clarke, Alan Milburn and Stephen Byers of "vitriolic" comments and said he would not have been doing his jobs had he not responded "in some kind".
He also admitted mishandling coverage of a mooted general election in the autumn of 2007.
Listen to the full interview with Damian McBride on BBC Radio 5 Live from 1000 BST on Monday.Listen to the full interview with Damian McBride on BBC Radio 5 Live from 1000 BST on Monday.