Brown aide quits over e-mail smears

LONDON, April 12 (UPI) -- A top aide to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown quit Saturday after e-mails in which he suggested smearing Conservatives were leaked.

Some members of the Conservative Party were threatening legal action against Damian McBride, The Observer reported. McBride sent the e-mails to Derek Draper, a Labor Party blogger.

The two discussed setting up a Web site, RedRag, that would be used to spread disinformation about Conservative leader David Cameron and others in the party.

The e-mails were leaked to Paul Staines, who blogs under the name Guido Fawkes. Staines' blog had been a model for RedRag, the report said

Among the possibilities McBride and Draper considered, The Observer said, were claiming that Cameron has an embarrassing disease. Cameron and his wife recently lost their son Ivan, who had suffered since birth from a combination of cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

The pair also considered reviving an old allegation that George Osborne, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, had used drugs with a prostitute, and spreading a story that a female member of parliament had been involved in an improper relationship with a colleague.