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BLOGGER DALE ADMITS WATSON BLUNDER

13-04-2009

Blogger Iain Dale has admitted he got it wrong when he claimed that West Bromwich East MP Tom Watson was included in email correspondence proposing a smear campaign against senior Conservatives – a suggestion which has been picked up by several national newspapers.

Dale claimed on Saturday on his popular Tory website, that Watson must have been aware of a plan to establish an “unofficial” and highly prejudicial blog called Red Rag, dreamt up by Downing Street spin doctor Damien McBride – who has since resigned (see link here).

In an interview with The Stirrer, Dale confessed there was no evidence to support this assertion. He said, “I do accept that he wasn’t cc’d into the emails.”

He added: “Knowing the layout of that office, I can’t believe he didn’t know about Red Rag, but I can’t prove it.”

When asked why he hadn’t apologised for his error, Dale said that he had only posted it for around 15 minutes on his site on Saturday night, and had even emailed the Mail On Sunday with a correction - which nevertheless repeated the slur.

“I don’t know why they didn’t remove the reference” he said. “I can only assume it arrived too late before they went to press.”

Watson said: "I didn't know about Red Rag, because if I had I would have pulled it immediately because it was bound to end in catastrophe. Damien McBride was acting on his own."

What’s remarkable is how far this canard has travelled. It was repeated in today's Times and the Daily Mail.

As Watson observed: “It just goes to show that a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has had time to pull its boots on.”

How ironic that a story which kicked off with an attack on Labour's tactics should see Conservative supporters creating their own unsubstantiated smear on a Cabinet Office minister.

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