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| Labour's chief 'met e-mail pair' | Labour's chief 'met e-mail pair' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| The general secretary of the Labour Party met the two men at the centre of a row over an e-mail smear campaign, a newspaper has claimed. | The general secretary of the Labour Party met the two men at the centre of a row over an e-mail smear campaign, a newspaper has claimed. |
| Ray Collins met Gordon Brown's ex-aide Damian McBride and adviser Derek Draper a month before the mails were sent, the News of the World said. | |
| Mr McBride was forced to resign last week after it emerged he sent e-mails about smearing senior Tories. | Mr McBride was forced to resign last week after it emerged he sent e-mails about smearing senior Tories. |
| On Saturday night Mr Collins denied knowledge of any smears. | On Saturday night Mr Collins denied knowledge of any smears. |
| 'Furious' | |
| He said: "I have had no knowledge whatsoever of any smears and found the stories and reports of the last week absolutely disgusting." | He said: "I have had no knowledge whatsoever of any smears and found the stories and reports of the last week absolutely disgusting." |
| Mr Collins admitted attending the meeting in December at the premises of the union Unite, after the Red Rag website at the centre of the scandal was set up. | |
| Former Labour spin doctor Charlie Whelan, union official Andrew Dodgson and journalist Kevin Maguire were also at the meeting, the newspaper claimed. | |
| Mr Collins said it was to "discuss online digital campaigning and how we could support and encourage left-of-centre websites and bloggers". | |
| He added: "This meeting was not about scurrilous rumour, personal attacks or smears as I would have been furious that such things could be seen as legitimate tools of political debate. As the PM has made clear, there is no place in politics for this kind of activity." |