Brown says 'sorry' over email slurs

Damian McBride resigned at the weekend after it emerged he had sent emails making unfounded personal allegations about senior Conservatives.

Mr Brown said he took "full responsibility" and stated: "I am sorry about what happened."

The Prime Minister spoke about the "smeargate" affair during a visit to Glasgow. He revealed he had been "horrified" and "very angry" when he first learned about the emails.

Mr Brown said: "I take full responsibility for what happened. That's why the person who was responsible went immediately."

He said: "I have said all along that, when I saw this first, I was horrified, I was shocked and I was very angry indeed. I think the most important thing we do is reassure people everything is being done to clean up politics in our country. I wrote to the people who were affected by it and expressed very deep regret for what happened.

"The person who was responsible went immediately and lost his job and I have ensured that there are new rules so this can't happen again. We have done everything in our power to deal with this."

Mr Brown was in Glasgow for a special meeting of the Cabinet which focused on the economy. He said: "We have now got to get on with the job of creating opportunities for people and apprenticeships, creating new work and, of course, getting a budget for jobs."

Mr Brown was criticised earlier in the week for failing to say sorry in a letter he wrote to those targeted by the disgraced aide.

It was sent after Mr McBride, a long-term adviser to Mr Brown, was forced to resign after admitting that he sent "juvenile and inappropriate" emails from his Downing Street account to former spin doctor Derek Draper.