Government releases damning new e-mail

The Government released another damning e-mail last night revealing that one of its special advisers was engaged in a general "muck-raking" exercise on the Paddington Survivors' Group.

In e-mails published by the Government last week Dan Corry, an aide to the former secretary of state for transport Stephen Byers, seemed to be only interested to know if members of the group were Tories. But a newly released e-mail shows the plea for information about the group was considerably wider.

Having been told by Labour headquarters at Millbank, Westminster that there was no record that group members were Conservatives, Mr Corry called for further information.

The additional e-mail from Mr Byers' special adviser, which was released yesterday, says: "Any other checking useful. They seem to have an anti-SB [Stephen Byers] agenda and we want to find out what lies behind it."

The department said that the new information was unearthed when its information technology experts had completed "a very thorough trawl" of electronic traffic between the department and Millbank on 23 May. A spokesman said an "electronic glitch" meant that while the memo had been sent by Mr Corry, there was no trace it had arrived and that was why it was not published with the rest of the electronic conversation.

The departmental spokes-man insisted the fresh information added "little to the story" and had been published for the sake of completeness and in a "spirit of openness".

The e-mails were sent the day after Pam Warren, who chaired the group, alleged that Mr Byers had lied to Parliament. He had told MPs he had not made the decision to send Railtrack into administration until 5 October, but Mrs Warren, who was badly burnt in the crash, said that a month before the minister had told the group the company was doomed.

The Independent was told yesterday that the department's IT experts were unable to perform a comprehensive trawl to discover whether other e-mails exist, sent from the department, that mentioned the motives of Mrs Warren or the group. "We have been told by our experts that when people leave the department any e-mails they have sent are placed in a part of the system which is difficult to access," the spokesman said.

The release of the additional e-mail is a considerable embarrassment to the Prime Minister's communications chief, Alastair Campbell, who claimed in a letter to The Independent yesterday that the paper had been given access to the "full e-mail traffic".

The revelation will add to tensions between Mr Campbell and Alistair Darling, the new Secretary of State for Transport who took over from Mr Byers.

Downing Street made the view known in private that it thought Mr Darling's apology for the e-mails to Mrs Warren and other members of the group was "over the top". Mr Blair expressed his regret for the memos, Mr Darling – and Mr Corry – made "unreserved" apologies.

The revelations about the e-mails sent by Mr Corry, who resigned at the same time as Mr Byers, reopen the damaging saga that began when The Independent revealed the notorious memorandum sent by Mr Byers' spin doctor Jo Moore on 11 September. Ms Moore, who also quit, urged colleagues to "bury" bad news stories at a time when there was massive coverage of the terrorists' attacks.