Clare Short warns Labour on spin

Outspoken Cabinet minister Clare Short today went to war over email smear campaigns by demanding an immediate end to New Labour's culture of spin doctors and manipulation.

The International Development Secretary hit out in the wake of the row over attempts by officials in the Department of Transport to "dig the dirt" on survivors of the Paddington rail disaster.

Ms Short, a persistent critic of her party's obsession with spin and control-freak techniques, broke ranks to warn Labour must learn to "let the truth speak for itself".

If it did not, all its "fine achievements" with the economy and public services would be lost, she warned. She demanded a "fresh start" and told her party to be "straight with people" rather than constantly trying to influence headlines and news bulletins.

Ms Short, who memorably hit out at the "people in the dark" when Labour's spin doctors were running riot while the party was in opposition, told the BBC's Westminster Hour her earlier warnings had "sadly" not been heeded.

She added: "The Government has a good track record of running the economy, of improving public services. All that is lost, all those fine achievements of the Labour Government, everything that the party exists for.

"Do not try to manipulate the media. You cannot do it anyway. We need to reconnect with the people - just be straight with them."

Ms Short's outspoken comments came as Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's allpowerful director of communications, became the latest senior figure to admit the Government would have to "learn lessons" from the latest email scandal.

He said the emails, which saw a former special adviser to ex-transport secretary Stephen Byers try to obtain damaging information about the backgroundsof the rail crash survivors, were "ill-judged and offensive".

He claimed in a letter to The Independent that the ex-adviser, Dan Corry, had not meant to "smear" or "dig dirt" on Pam Warren, the survivors' group's former chairman. However, his words were being greeted with cynicism by the Tories, who claimed Mr Campbell had presided over Labour spin for years.

Mr Campbell hit out at attempts to link the smear campaign to Downing Street "without a shred of evidence".

The latest email affair has contributed to a fall in support for Labour in a new opinion poll. The on-line survey by YouGov put Labour on 39 per cent, the Tories on 33 per cent and the Liberal Democarts on 21 per cent.

Veteran Labour backbencher Gwyneth Dunwoody, a persistent critic of the Government', claimed she had become the latest figure to suffer attempts to smear her. She said: "This is what they did before. This is what they will do again. It is the way they work."

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