GORDON BROWN has now expressed his regrets and personal letters have been sent but one important political question still has to be answered — how damaging will the untrue and offensive emails sent by Damian McBride turn out to be?

First let me declare a personal interest. I have been the victim of Mr McBride's aggressive and hostile media briefing on a number of occasions. As a result I have to admit that I made little effort to suppress a smile when I heard about his enforced departure from Downing Street.

However, this was a fleeting moment of satisfaction. Once the broad outline of the allegations contained in the email became known and the smear operation that they were to form the basis of was public then it was clear that his actions would damage politics in general and the Labour Party in particular.

To dismiss the incident as juvenile, which was the first reaction of Downing Street, totally missed the point and failed to recognise the extent of the hurt and offence caused.

If there remain people close to the Prime Minister who are thinking of fighting the forthcoming general election in a personal and dirty way then they should go, and go now.

This is the time for Mr Brown to demonstrate that as a leader he is focused on developing and implementing policies that will meet the challenges that face us as a country.

In the process, the Conservatives should not be ignored. In a democracy it is absolutely right and proper for them to be attacked on the basis of their incoherent and ill-thought-out programme.

In fact, there are many questions that the Conservative leadership need to answer. They range from the general, such as what should be the overall burden of taxation and what level of public spending would be acceptable, to
specific measures such as how marriage will be rewarded under the tax system.

On these and other key questions David Cameron would appear to have taken a vow of silence. His refusal to answer needs to be exposed at every opportunity. The public have a right to know exactly what it is that a Cameron Conservative government would do if elected to office.

The recent G20 summit in London was a success for the Prime Minister. I say that as someone who before the event took place expressed concern that the agenda was so ambitious that it was likely to fail. In fact, Mr Brown conducted it in such a skilful way that he came out of the summit with his reputation enhanced.

This is the time for Labour to be promoting a positive agenda in order to build on the success of the G20 and to make the right long-term decisions for the future of our country.

It is in this context that the McBride affair has the potential to inflict real political damage in that it will be a distraction and a continuing focus of political debate.

There is a way to stop this happening. Next week Alistair Darling will present the Budget to the House of Commons. This will provide a golden opportunity to be on the front foot and positive about the future but it will not be easy. This Budget was always going to be the most difficult for Labour since it came to office in 1997.

It is vital that it shows new ideas and fresh thinking. Labour needs to develop a clear narrative that demonstrates exactly what it is in office to do. It has to show that it is governing and using the powers that it has in the public interest.

A combination of measures is needed. They have to tackle the economic slowdown by being of a scale large enough to provide a stimulus to the economy but any old measures will not do. They need to be popular with the electorate.

The Budget has to build on the foundations that have already been laid. A programme is needed that shows Labour has more to offer in the future than it has already delivered in the past.

This is not the time for an array of worthy but small-scale initiatives that seem to be focused on gaining control of the media agenda rather than laying down a coherent set of policies.

Far better to focus on a small number of key issues that will really make a difference to people. To change public opinion and give a boost to Mr Brown's leadership they will have to be of a scale and boldness that will capture the public imagination.

So what might be possible? Let's take one practicable proposal. The two and half per cent cut in VAT may appear modest but comes at significant cost. Between April and the end of this year it will cost the Treasury around £8.6 billion to implement.

For this significant amount of money there are more popular measures that could be introduced that would go a long way to winning broad and popular support back to Labour.

Raising personal allowances for income tax purposes for the rest of this tax year by £1,520 to £7,995 would cost £8.5 billon.

This would bring a windfall to all income tax payers but perhaps more importantly would take no fewer than 1.7 million low-paid workers out of paying income tax altogether.

Such a measure would put Labour on the right side of the debate about fair taxation and is of the magnitude necessary to change the political landscape in Labour's favour.

With only a year left to convince the electorate that Labour is worth keeping in office, we must ensure that all our focus and attention is on the implementation of policies that matter to people and not on personal attacks that demean the political process.

* Stephen Byers MP was a member of Tony Blair's Cabinet from 1998-2002.

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