No 10 fury at Darling's 'over the top' apology

Alistair Darling's apology to victims of the Paddington rail crash for the "muck-raking" e-mails that sought details of their political views has angered Downing Street for being "over the top", senior Whitehall sources said yesterday.

The row has brought the new Secretary of State for Transport into conflict with the Prime Minister's powerful communications director, Alastair Campbell.

After The Independent revealed that senior government officials were attempting to smear the Paddington Survivors' Group, Mr Darling instructed staff at the Department of Transport to issue an immediate and unreserved apology to Pam Warren, who was chairwoman of the organisation at the time.

He was said to be determined to draw a line under the spin and subterfuge that characterised the tenure of his predecessor, Stephen Byers. Shortly after his prompt and explicit expression of contrition, copies of the incriminating e-mails at the centre of the affair were sent to Mrs Warren and Mr Darling contacted her at home.

Dan Corry, the former policy adviser to Mr Byers, and author of the e-mails, became the latest figure to offer his "unreserved" apology yesterday, saying: "It was wrong to send these e-mails ... I profoundly regret what I did on this occasion."

Although No 10 supported Mr Darling's decision to say sorry, a senior Whitehall source told The Independent: "Alistair Darling was quite clear that he did not wish to carry the can for Stephen Byers, and the department must have a much more open and candid culture from now on. That is the reason the apology was so quickly made and so far-reaching.

"Number 10 did not oppose Alistair Darling. But they feel the wording was over the top and too fulsome. They feel it left the Government open to criticism over 'crimes' it never committed, and may even be used for litigation in the future. There is a matter of collective responsibility here."

Although the Prime Minister also apologised to Mrs Warren, a 35-year-old former financial consultant, the tone and content of his statement was very different from that of Mr Darling and appeared, according to observers, to be almost a "legal letter".

After receiving both apologies, Mrs Warren said she accepted the sincerity of Mr Darling's. However, she said she found Tony Blair's statement "insulting".

Downing Street claimed any suggestion of a rift was "complete rubbish". The spokesman at No 10 added: "As we said [on Thursday], Alistair Darling's statement reflected the view of the Government. Alistair Darling consulted No 10 about the apology and about publishing the e-mails and we were totally supportive of both, as the statement from Downing Street made clear."

There was a clear difference in tone between the statement issued on behalf of the Prime Minister and that issued by Mr Darling, which read: "The new Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling, strongly disapproves of the fact that this inquiry was made and has made it clear that it must stop immediately. The department would also wish to apologise unreservedly for any distress that this story has caused to Pam Warren, the Paddington Survivors or their relatives."

The statement from No 10 was substantially weaker: "The Prime Minister shares Alistair Darling's view that this should not have happened. It is wrong that it did happen and he shares in the regret that it happened."