EX-UK PM’s aide admits conducting smear campaign against rivals

Former press secretary of ex-British Chancellor and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has published memoirs revealing the extent to which he conducted smear campaigns against rivals to win political battles.

In extracts of his book titled “Power Trip: A Decade of Policy, Plots and Spin” and published in The Daily Mail on Thursday, Damian McBride revealed his role in manipulating the media and destroying Brown’s rivals for the Labour leadership after Tony Blair stepped down as Prime Minister in 2007.

Brown’s communications chief, who was forced to step down in 2009 in the midst of a smearing scandal, also said the “dark” world of politics encourages hypocrisy, vanity, duplicity, greed and cruelty.

Referring to Brown’s reaction to his misbehavior, he said, “There was something unspoken between us…the unspoken word was from me to him and said: ‘Don’t question my methods.”

McBride’s book will be published in full for the Labour party conference next week.