Knives out for Duncan Smith
A plot has been uncovered to “sully” the reputation of Iain Duncan Smith.
On eve of the annual party conference in Blackpool, investigative journalist Michael Crick has claimed that unnamed, disgruntled, Tory “moderniisers” contacted the BBC’s Newsnight programme over allegations pertaining to the management of the leader’s office and past employment of his wife Betsy as a secretary.
The BBC declined to broadcast the story on Friday’s Newsnight after Duncan Smith threatened to sue.
Mark Byford, the acting director-general of the BBC decided to pull the plug on the story.
Critics claim the BBC has lost its bottle in the wake of Lord Hutton’s judicial inquiry into the apparent suicide of Dr David Kelly, the BBC “mole” who reportedly made the September “dodgy” dossier allegations.
Mr Duncan Smith said: “I will sue about any allegations. The allegations are utterly false and I will sue anyone who makes them. You have to ask yourself why the BBC dropped it.”
Mr Crick is reported to have been passed an internal e-mail from Venessa Gearson, head of the Conservative leader’s office, in which she said she feared that Mr Duncan Smith might become the centre of a “Crick-style investigation.”
The email, sent in January 2003, was destined for the in-boxes of Mark MacGregor, the party’s chief executive, Paul Baverstock, its director of communications and Theresa May, the party chairman.
