'Smeargate' victim paid £1,000 by Brown aide

"Smeargate" returned to haunt Gordon Brown today after a Tory MP was paid £1,000 in damages by a former Downing Street aide.

Damian McBride, who worked for years with the Prime Minister, has written a cheque to backbencher Nadine Dorries over allegations about her sex life.

Mr McBride was forced to quit this spring when it emerged he had used his No 10 email account to spread smears against several Conservatives, including Ms Dorries, David Cameron and George Osborne.

Ms Dorries said today she had two other defamation suits outstanding, one against Mr Brown and one against Derek Draper, the recipient of the emails.

"I absolutely 100 per cent want it to be known that every word that was written in those emails was a lie. I don't think the general public know just how low the office of No 10 has slipped in terms of its morals. It's not just dysfunctional, it's way down in the gutter."

Mr McBride, who now works at a Catholic boys' school in Finchley, apologised for the embarrassment to the Prime Minister when the emails were revealed this year.

Mr McBride's emails to Mr Draper discussed plans to set up a "Red Rag" blogsite which would be used to post rumours about the private lives of senior Conservatives and their spouses.