# Red Rag

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The **Red Rag** blogsite was at the centre of a UK political scandal that became known as Smeargate. The scandal broke on 11 April 2009 when it was reported that [Gordon Brown](/source/Gordon_Brown)'s special adviser, [Damian McBride](/source/Damian_McBride), had sent a series of emails to [New Labour](/source/New_Labour) political blogger [Derek Draper](/source/Derek_Draper) discussing plans to set up the blog which would be used to post false rumours about the private lives of senior members of the Conservative Party and their spouses.[1][2][3][4][5] The website was never launched according to *[The Register](/source/The_Register)*.[6] The emails from January 2009, which had been sent from the Downing Street Press Office, were initially leaked to blogger [Paul Staines](/source/Paul_Staines).[7]

Draper and McBride initially tried to play down the plans. McBride stated "To call it an orchestrated smear campaign is ridiculous. It was just some ill-judged gossip between friends which was never meant to see the light of day. They appear to be some ideas – laid out in embarrassing detail – for stories which could appear on a Left-wing version of the Guido Fawkes blog called Red Rag. They’re all stories which have been doing the rounds in Westminster for a while, written up in a scurrilous style. But the website has never appeared, so it’s hard to see what it was all about."[8]

McBride resigned on 11 April 2009 after it was discovered that the site had been registered since November 2008 and the planned launch was only stopped in April 2009.[9] Draper resigned as editor of [LabourList](/source/LabourList) on 7 May 2009.[10]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Timeline: Damian McBride email smears row"](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/apr/14/damian-mcbride-email-smears-row1). *The Guardian*. London. 14 April 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Sex, lies and sordid photos to promote Labour website"](http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sordid-pics-to-promote-labour-website/story-e6frg6so-1225697029928). *[The Australian](/source/The_Australian)*. 13 April 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["Key people in e-mail smear row"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7995634.stm). [BBC News](/source/BBC_News). 14 April 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["How the Labour smear email story unfolded"](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/5145640/How-the-Labour-smear-email-story-unfolded.html). *[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)*. 13 April 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["E-mail smears MP 'paid damages'"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8332806.stm). [BBC News](/source/BBC_News). 29 October 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Tory MP to sue over sex smear email"](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/09/07/dorries_writs/). *[The Register](/source/The_Register)*. 7 September 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Fawkes, Guido (17 April 2009). ["Why did so few stand up to the spin machine"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110716130442/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6108549.ece). *The Times*. London. Archived from [the original](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6108549.ece) on 16 July 2011.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Hope, Christopher (10 April 2009). ["Row as Number 10 emails 'smear Tories'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090413173541/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/5138271/Row-as-Number-10-emails-smear-Tories.html). *The Daily Telegraph*. London. Archived from [the original](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/5138271/Row-as-Number-10-emails-smear-Tories.html) on 13 April 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Hinsliff, Gaby (11 April 2009). ["Damian McBride forced to quit over 'sex smear scandal'"](https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/11/damian-mcbride-forced-to-quit). *The Guardian*. London.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Labour insider Derek Draper stands down"](http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/903854/Labour-insider-Derek-Draper-stands-down/). *[Brand Republic](/source/Brand_Republic)*. 7 May 2009.

## External links

- [The Red Rag](http://www.theredrag.co.uk)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Red Rag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rag) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rag?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.