Derek Draper resigns over 'smear' scandal

Thursday 07 May 2009 10:28 BST
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Labour activist Derek Draper has quit as editor of the LabourList website following the scandal of a No 10 smear campaign designed to destabilise the Tories.

Mr Draper, who described the notorious plans to spread scurrilous gossip about senior Tories on a new website to be called Red Rag as “absolutely totally brilliant”, acknowledged that his continued presence – which was originally set up to discuss policy ideas – was distracting from the website.

In a resignation statement Mr Draper said: "I regret ever receiving the infamous email and I regret my stupid, hasty reply. I should have said straight away that the idea was wrong.

"I do ask people to remember that its contents were never published by me or anyone else involved in the Labour Party and they would never have seen the light of day were it not for someone hacking into my emails and placing them into the public domain.

"Because of that, a silly idea ultimately destined for the trash can became a national scandal."

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