Spin doctor slams email 'hypocrisy'

Mr Whelan, who was Mr Brown's press secretary when he was Chancellor and is now political director of union Unite, is understood to have been copied in on emails sent by Damian McBride to blogger Derek Draper.

The Prime Minister has apologised for the "smeargate" emails that targeted Tories and their families, but Mr Whelan spoke of the "utter hypocrisy" of the Conservatives and their "spin machine".

In the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald, a newspaper in the Scottish Highlands in which he has an occasional column, Mr Whelan wrote: "What was just as sickening about the email scandal was the way the Westminster media attacked Damian McBride, despite the fact that they had spent the previous 10 years relying on him for their stories.

"Damian had never intended for his private email to become public and the gossip contained in them was well known to every Westminster hack."

Mr Whelan said he had just settled down to a "few days' fishing and a couple of rounds of golf" over Easter when the news broke.

He did not confirm whether he was privy to the emails but said Mr McBride - an "old pal" - was forced to resign after "private emails were made public".

Mr Whelan used his column, Whelan's World, to complain about his own private email account being hacked.

He said: "That will probably be the end of this latest Westminster scandal. It shouldn't be though.

"What about the illegal hacking into computers that started it all off? Somehow I think the media who just love 'leaked' emails won't be calling for a Scotland Yard investigation. I, however, am still considering if I should bring the police into the hacking of my own computer."