Phew, What A Stitch-Up

A phone hack 'scandal' is rocking Cameron's boat in the dog eat dog world on the Street of Shame. Dirty Digger's in the frame after coughing up to gag the victims. Cameron's spin doctor is in the thick of it. It's payback time and New Labour cronies are milking it for all it's worth. This smells like a stitch-up.

A hairy old hacking hack's tale with a good dose of political bitching and a Fleet Street battle thrown in for good measure.

Blair's ex-spin doctor Campbell was in like a shot blogging for all he was worth while the Guardian "bombshell" was still hot off the press. The old hack couldn't contain himself - Gotcha. Methinks the man doeth protest too much.

At the centre is the shock 'revelation' that newspaper hacks on the News of the Screws went to illegal lengths a couple of years ago with phone hacks to try to dish the dirt on the high and mighty, all well-publicised at the time.

And to cap it all, there's the shock 'revelation' that NoW boss, Murdoch, paid off victims with a wad of cash to keep schtum.

How on earth does a hungry hack gets a scoop? Not by sitting on their bums all day. Hacking mobile messages is just the newest simplest trick in the book, making "thousands of calls" until you strike gold with an easily cracked voicemail PIN. Any tabloid hack worth their salt would give it a go - as long as the boss is shielded from any come back.

Hacking into voicemail messages at the centre of the Guardian claims is small-fry. GCHQ does much more with a massive eavesdropping operation. The Royal Mail has a special unit to intercept post. Spooks pass on juicy titbits to the tabloids when they fancy another 'Squidgygate'. If the government can get away with it why not hacks? As long as it's in the public interest not just to interest the public.

But hold the front page. Who was the News of the Screws editor at the time? Step forward Andy Coulson, now Cameron's right hand media man. It's McBride and Smeargate all over again. Or is it?

Shurley shum mishtake. McPoison was working alongside Brown while hatching a squalid plot to smear top Tories. Coulson? This happened years ago in his other life at the NoW before he was a twinkle in Cameron's eye.

Coulson quit when the newspaper got in a right royal pickle caught in the act in a hairy old hacking affair, saying he took “ultimate responsibility”.

As for the pay-off. More likely no-one wanted their dirty washing hung out in a public court case and this was a chance to make a fast buck on the back on a bit of dirt.

But quick as a flash Prezza got stuck in - calling for heads to roll and the Old Bill to get stuck in. The BBC was lovin' it, giving Prescott all the time in the world to rant away all a-huffin' and a-puffin' his way through his spin-doctor script.

Yates of the Yard has been called in do his duty with another pop at the nasty Tories. Not be left out, Mandy has joined the fray calling for a fresh police probe.

And this is the same Prescott caught lording it up at Dorneywood when he was supposed to be running the country (Mail), caught with his pants down with his secretary (Mirror) and caught on two loos (Telegraph). Having a go at the NoW he seems to have got his wires crossed.

Prezza and Campbell will no doubt keep pumping away. Others are jumping on the bandwagon in a game of ya boo sucks. After all, the mighty Murdoch empire is backing Cameron in the race for Downing Street.

The heat is on. But those calling for Coulson or Murdoch's head should be careful what they wish for. There's a lot of muck out there waiting to be raked up.

Cameron is said to be "relaxed" about the whole thing. Only hard evidence linking Coulson directly to phone hacking would bring about his certain downfall. Hacks cover their tracks.

But still smarting from the Guido/NoW McBride smearing scandal, revenge is a dish best served cold by a New Labour supporting Guardian in cahoots with the BBC. If the pressure is relentless and something truly fresh turns up, Coulson may have to go.

To its credit Murdoch's posh paper, The Times is reporting New Labour calls for Cameron to sack his trusted aide but it's no big deal at the old Thunderer. The Mail, Mirror and Telegraph? Let he who is without sin throw the first stone.

Spin doctor Campbell is no stranger to dirty tricks spinning for his New Labour cronies. He's there large as life in a wonderful expose by none other than author of the Guardian 'revelation' - Nick Davies in his book which blew the lid off Campbell's Fleet Street cajoling, Flat Earth News.

Meanwhile outside the cosy Westminster village and the Street of Shame the public doesn't give a toss. They are worried about hanging onto a job, paying the bills and making ends meet.

Now thanks to Telegraph hacks they know which MP is spending their taxes living the high life with dodgy second homes deals. Now thanks to the stirling work of hacks and the blogoshere they know which fat cats are milking the system, screwing taxpayers for all they're worth.

And now thanks to leaks to the media they can see through the spin of this discredited government and economic mess. And decide for themselves who is best to run the country.

UPDATE 6pm: Yates of the Yard has ruled out a fresh probe into the hacking hacks.

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Can Brown Shake Off McPoison 'Link'?

Twice Brown has been forced to deny dealings with his disgraced spin doctor McBride. Twice he was forced to stand at the commons despatch box and deny any links. Spiteful Tory trouble stirring to ruffle Brown's feathers? Or is McPoison back already? There's something fishy going on.

For the Tories the name of Damian McBride is spat out through gritted teeth. Forced to leave Brown's side in shame with his tail between his legs after being exposed at the centre of a nasty email smear campaign against top Tories.

Revenge could be a dish best served cold at the dispatch box.

Since McBride went to ground, many political observers have raised the vexed question. Where's McPoison? What's he up to now? Is he up to his old tricks offering "informal briefings"?

The mere suggestion forced Downing Street to put up the story that he's turned his back on the dirty tricks of politics, short listed for another job as an "outreach worker" for his old school. Some kind of penance perhaps or maybe taking the outreach just a little bit too literally?

The Orange Party was taken aback somewhat when for the second week running a Tory asked the PM a planted question during PMQs over links with McBride. The Westminster Mole is pondering the same intriguing question with equally intriguing conclusions.

The first week's question to Brown was messed up. Woolly, imprecise, asking only about alleged "informal briefings", that allowed Brown to get away with a simple denial. Tory high command was furious.

Not so this week. A very tight, detailed, precise question designed to pin Brown down, which had all the hallmarks of being drafted by Tory central office.

Tory backbencher James Duddridge demanded to know whether Brown had had "any correspondence, emails, telephone conversations or texts from McBride". Brown again brushed it aside with: "I have not" but here's the rub - the MP asked him to send his answer to the Commons Standards watchdog. Outch.

MPs cannot accuse one another of lying in the House. But they can force someone to account for themselves if what they've said is a bit dodgy. A prime minister caught lying to the House and its curtains for Brown.

Are the Tories onto something? What is clear is that all communications between a prime minister are routinely monitored by Downing Street and the spooks. It goes with the job.

It's designed to protect a prime minister from any false accusations and to give Downing Street a steer on a PMs thinking. Blair never had a mobile phone, Brown has. The record is there on the grounds of national security and in the best interests of the state.

Falling into the wrong or right hands and it's a case of Gotcha.

Ex-spin doctors have a habit of turning up like a bad penny. Disgraced Campbell is doing quite well with his feet under the Downing Street table blogging for the Blair brand.

And why not. Nice work if you can get it. Old habits die hard and McBride could well have offered some kind words of advice. Some lines to take on a vexed issue. No one would bat an eyelid.

But now Brown has been forced to deny it to the House. It only takes one transcript of a text message, one mobile phone link and he's toast.

The Tories maybe on to something. Or just giving Brown a taste of his own medicine. The McPoison wounds of Smeargate ran deep. What is clear is they won't give up, if only to make the struggling Supreme Leader sweat.

Picture: McBrown and McBride in happier days

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Smeargate II-Abandon Hope All Who Enter

Smearing Sunday has thrown up a two-pronged attack on Brown's tightly knit cabal of henchmen, as the spinners slide down the slippery slope of smears. Abandon hope all who enter.

A rotting carcass either eats away at itself from the inside or blows up and explodes. Both sickening spectacles are laid bare today in an attack by the Murdoch stable, as Brown's reservoir dogs plot to smear anyone and everyone who get in their way. 

A commons vote of no confidence could be getting closer, as shadow chancellor and one of the smear victims, George Osborne, says Brown must be "held to account" for the people around him. 

The News of the Screws turns on the screws with revelations that Labour Party boss, Ray Collins, was in on the plot to set up scurrilous website, Red Rag, at the centre of the sickening Smeargate campaign to smear top Tories. 

Meeting Brown's now defunct aide, Damian 'McPoison' McBride and ex-spin doctor, Derek 'Dolly' Draper, a month before vicious unfounded Tory sex smear emails mails were sent, the NoW now screams: New Smear Email Nails Labour Lies 

Was that before or after Brown and Dolly had a jolly lunch at Chequers? Maybe Guido, who blew the gaff on the whole sordid affair, could write a book about it. 

One thing's certain, McPoison was dripping everywhere with Brown's unofficial Mr Fix-It and former aide, Charlie Wheelan and government cyber minister, Tom Watson, firmly in the frame. 

Over at the Sunday Times in "an explosive new twist" it's revealed Brown's side-kick Ed Balls, stuck in a rut as schools, children, playgrounds and school dinners secretary, was up to his neck running a Downing Street smear unit, using disgraced spin doctor, McBride to stab in the back rivals as he plotted to have a stab at the premiership after the Supreme Leader's inevitable downfall. 

In a stark headline the Sunday Times tells it how it is: Ed Balls ‘Ran’ Labour’s Smear Unit with more on the ruthless band of brothers. 

According to a "mysterious" No 10 insider, Balls, "master of dark arts and dirty tricks", was the mastermind behind a “dark arts” operation. Blair boy spinners Mandleson and Campbell must be happy bunnies. 

The Orange Party has long fingered Balls who has a knack of hiding behind the smokescreen of 'accountability and responsibility' both over the Baby P scandal and the Sats fiasco, where his cover is set to be blown later this week. 

Smeargate is slowly unravelling, albeit slowly and for the sake of journalistic objectivity is should be pointed out that everyone denies, well, everything. 

What is clear is that Downing Street's spin that this was all just a 'prank between two blokes' has spectacularly backfired.

All roads lead to McCavity Brown, who of course didn't touch it, smell it, shake it or move it, while mercilessly ripping out his political rivals' throats, using his attack dogs to do the dirty work. 

With every twist and turn the disreputable band are being forced to crawl out of the woodwork with lame denials as the plot thickens, the rot sets in and the Blairites and Brownites tear each other apart.

The Smeargate fall out continued yesterday with long-standing true Labour stalwart, Alice Mahon, quitting the Party with a withering attack on Brown and New Labour saying she can no longer stomach how it operates and feels betrayed, citing the recent smearing scandal as the last straw which left her feeling "sickened''. 

Disgusted, fed up and betrayed, many card-carrying Party members are finally waking up to the mess the disreputable political elite of the New Labour brand have made of the country and their Party. 

As the Tories gain more ground in the polls on the back of Smeargate, the question now is can voters trust the Tories to turn off and turn around the rot? 

Peter Oborne, laying bare the media hype, spin doctors and skulduggery in the Observer isn't quite sure:

"But at this grim moment in our national life, Britain doesn't just need a change of personnel at the very top. We urgently need a new decency and morality in government and to get rid of the stinking and corrupt regime that has brought the idea of British democracy into such deep disrepute over the last few years."

The Orange Party feels it's time to unwind with a large Laphroaig and reread Oborne's 'Triumph Of The Political Class', now rushed out in paperback - followed by Dante's 'Divine Comedy'.

Picture: The inscription at the entrance to Hell from Dante's Divine Comedy

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No Confidence Vote Could Bring Down Brown

Pressure on Beleaguered Brown is mounting with calls to apologise for 'Smeargate' from both Tories and New Labour ranks. A commons 'no confidence' vote would purge the lies, deceit and spin eating away at the heart of a rotten government.

Furious Cameron is demanding a personal apology from Brown. Members of the decent Labour Party have rounded on the corrupt Downing Street black ops spin machine. Any shred of credibility left in ministers and their band of cronies has been destroyed.

The Tory leader is said to be "absolutely furious" after more details were revealed today of a disgraceful Tory sex smear campaign at the heart of Number Ten which led to one of Brown's closest aides being forced to quit.

A leading back-bench Labour MP today added his voice of disgust at the dirty tricks outrage, placing Brown as Party leader in a precarious position.

A personal apology is the least the Tory leader should expect. But that should be made to the house of commons. A vote of confidence would have to follow.

Cameron is calling on Brown to give a guarantee that such messages will not be sent again. Anyone who thinks this will end New Labour spin is living in fool's paradise.

Blair's spin doctor Campbell is in regular contact with Brown. Whelan, now head of press at the union Unite, is back in the fold and was copied in emails between McPoison and New Labour's Dolly Draper.

With spinmaster Mandleson lurking in the shadows, that can only lead to more dirty tricks and dark ops in the weeks to come. To argue that Brown knew nothing is laughable.

During his time in Downing Street, Brown's attack dog McBride did the job he was expected to do. Brown may not have been in on the detail but certainly he would be aware of the broad outline of the cunning pre-election plan. After all, that is why taxpayer-funded toe-rags like civil servant McBride are hired.

The smear campaign has been spun by Number Ten as a "juvenile and inappropriate" prank by two blokes. A pathetic attempt at damage limitation to play down the seriousness of the spin operation at the heart of the fag-end of a rancid government spinning out of control.

The dirty tricks campaign to smear top Tories, including Cameron, was exposed by top political blogger, Paul Staines, author of the Guido Fawkes blog. But it's not just the Tories who are furious. The rank and file Labour Party has had to suffer the lies and spin of the New Labour brand for over a decade.

Labour backbench MP, John McDonnell, today called on Brown to launch an independent inquiry into who was involved: "Smear tactics like this are not the Labour way ... They drag the Labour Party into the gutter." LibDems too are up in arms.

Deluded Brown stands alone. His cover has been blown. He would do well to remember the unpopular Callaghan government's defeat on 28 March 1979. Then the commons passed a motion of 'no confidence' by one vote — 311-310 — which forced Callaghan to call a general election, ushering in the Thatcher years.

Only last June, Brown escaped the 42 days vote by the skin of his political teeth in a mixture of pork-barrel politics and support of Northern Ireland's DUP when the government scraped through by just nine votes - exactly the number of MPs from Northern Ireland who voted for the draconian measures.

With a united front of Tory, LibDem and back-bench Labour MPs, a 'no confidence' vote would place the Brown's government on a knife edge.

The full blown political row has dealt a bitter blow for Brown, after one of his most senior aides, Damian McBride, dubbed McPoison, was fingered by Staines over emails discussing possible smear stories about Tory MPs, sent to New Labour blogger, Derek Draper to be used on a scurrilous New Labour pre-election website, 'Red Rag'.

Once again, the spinner became the story and McBride was toast. The more they spun, the deeper the hole.

Brown famously forced his way into Number 10 in 2007 declaring an end to the culture of spin that had dogged the Blair years. No-one believed him then as McPoison followed closely behind. No-one believes him now. A slow drip of poison will continue under a horse with a different colour.

All political parties have their attack dogs. All get up to dirty tricks of one sort or another. That's politics. And all do their upmost to shield their boss from any damage.

Now a general election is round the corner. For the first time in the UK, political bloggers will be a powerful and influential force.

Trying to beef up existing New Labour-supporting blogs and launch new ones are part and parcel of that phoney war campaign.

But New Labour ministers and cronies cannot get it into their arrogant skulls just why so many blogs seem to be 'Tory supporting'.

The Orange Party, a relative new kid on the political blogging block, certainly isn't Tory supporting per se, its politics are left-leaning. But like so many voters it is just fed up to the back teeth with a decade of the discredited New Labour brand and the arrogance of lies, spin and deceit.

That raises the issue of confidence among the voters and that should raise the issue of confidence in Brown in the house of commons.

Throw in the toxic scandal of ministers' second homes fiddles and Brown and his fag-end of a government is doomed, however long New Labour tries to cling onto power.

Picture: What did Brown know and when did he know it? McPoison and the Supreme Leader in happier spinning days

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A Rotten Government Spinning Out Of Control

More details are due to be revealed tomorrow of a disgraceful Tory smear campaign at the heart of Number Ten which has led to one of Brown's closest aides forced to quit a rotten government spinning out of control.

The Downing Street dirty tricks campaign to smear top Tories, including leader David Cameron, was exposed by one of the country's top political bloggers, Paul Staines, author of the Guido Fawkes political blog.

The smear campaign has been spun by Number Ten as a "juvenile and inappropriate" prank by two blokes in a pathetic attempt at damage limitation and to play down the seriousness of the spin operation at the heart of a fag-end of a government.

But a full blown political row dealt a bitter blow for Brown, when one of his most senior aides, Damian McBride, was fingered by Staines over emails discussing possible smear stories about Tory MPs, sent to New Labour blogger, Derek Draper to be used on a scurrilous New Labour pre-election website, 'Red Rag'.

Staines had alleged a Downing Street operation, co-ordinated by McBride tried to smear Conservative MPs, including lurid and totally unfounded allegations about the private lives of David Cameron and George Osborne.

Some of the smears, due to be published in tomorrow's News of the World, are revealed here by the Sunday Times. The Tories have already confirmed that David Cameron and his wife Samantha, George Osborne and MP Nadine Dorries, are among the targets.

But in a toxic mixture of deceit and spin, Downing Street today tried to play down 'Smeargate' as spinners tried on the tactic of a political battle between 'left' and 'right' when it's nothing of the sort.

Claims on Guido Fawkes and Twitter also point the finger at minister for digital engagement, Tom Watson, who denied involvement. SpAds and spinners are one thing, a government minister, quite another.

A Downing Street spokesman said it was Brown's view there was "no place in politics for the dissemination or publication of material of this kind."

But that's rich coming from the man who promised a new era of politics and vowed to put an end to the spin and SpAd culture which had dogged Blair and discredited the New Labour brand.

The allegations, which detail a smear campaign against various Tory politicians, were due to be exposed by one of the Sunday newspapers.

But, in what appears to be a spoiler and pre-emptive strike, the claims featured on the front page of today's Daily Telegraph.

Downing Street initially tried to hold the line and issued a statement saying McBride has apologised but the writing was on the wall as Downing Street's rapid rebuttal unit worked overtime.

The BBC pushed the Brown and the Downing Street line playing up the apology and playing down the seriousness of the affair with the toe-rag McBride being given the oxygen of air-time to drip more McPoison.

To spin this as some kind of 'juvenile and inappropriate' prank by one person in Downing Street is bollocks.

Spinners also tried the tactic of accusing Guido of money grabbing, claims which he strenuously denies: "Not a penny is changing hands. This is for pleasure, not profit."

McBride, dubbed McPoison, who has worked for Brown for many years, is well-known for downright devious briefings to journalists.

At the heart too is a long-running cyber-spat between Guido and Draper, a former spin doctor to the spinmaster Mandelson, who runs a weedy apology for a political blog Labourlist, as part of the 'Go Forth And Multiply' New Labour gang.

What is highly embarrassing for Number 10 is that its spinners and plumbers are spending their time obsessing about how they can smear the opposition with the politics of character assassination, rather than doing the job they are paid to do by the taxpayers. And that is trying to advise ministers on how best to run the country.

No political party of whatever colour is whiter than white when it comes to the dark arts of political dirty tricks, from Richard 'Tricky Dicky' Nixon in the US through to the Campbell and Mandleson spin of the Blair years.

But these sordid smears do reveal the increasing significance of the political blogsphere which is becoming a powerful political voice and the main forum for political debate, as is already the case in the US.

Once again, the problem comes when the spinner becomes the story. McBride is toast, Draper must surely follow. The more they spin, the deeper the hole.

The healthy UK blogsphere will become more important in the run-up to the general election as Downing Street spinners are all too well aware.

The Orange Party has pointed out before this arrogant bunch of chancers don't like it up 'em, and expects more of their dirty tricks, lies and downright deceit in the weeks to come.

Staines aka Guido has done a magnificent job exposing this particular New Labour brand of nastiness at the heart of a rotten government - but he should be careful about going for long walks alone in the woods.

Picture: Happier spinning days - McBride (left) and Draper (right)

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