What emails did Ed send to smear plotter? More disturbing questions for Labour leader in our serialisation of spin doctor's explosive memoir The allegations were made by Gordon Brown's spin doctor Damian McBride The tell-all autobiography has sent shockwaves through the Labour Party Senior figures have questioned what Miliband and Ed Balls knew of tricks Questions: Labour leader Ed Miliband Ed Miliband sent potentially damaging emails to a party official plotting to smear opponents, Gordon Brown's former spin doctor claims in an explosive new book. The allegation from Damian McBride is the latest to link the Labour leader to a toxic culture of spin inside government. The memoir suggests Mr Miliband might "have problems" if his exchanges with Labour insider Derek Draper are revealed. The tell-all autobiography, serialised in the Mail, has sent shockwaves through the party ahead of its conference in Brighton. And it has prompted senior figures to question what Mr Miliband and Ed Balls knew of Mr McBride's dirty tricks. Both were at the heart of Mr Brown's political operation and worked closely with the spin doctor who used smears and clandestine briefings to destroy ministers including Charles Clarke and John Reid. Yesterday former Labour minister Tessa Jowell said she was sure Mr Miliband knew about the underhand tactics. And former No 10 spin doctor Lance Price said: "It's pretty clear Ed Miliband must have known what was going on." Other revelations in today's extracts from the book include: Mr Brown came within hours of declaring martial law and sending troops on to the streets as banks faced collapse in 2008; David Cameron sent Mr Brown a furious Christmas card after being accused of using his children as props; Mr McBride leaked details of a Customs probe into pearls Cherie Blair brought back from China; A senior official broke down in tears as Mr Brown told Mr McBride to leak secret details of the EU budget; Ed Miliband's team insist on him being called "The Leader." Mr McBride was forced to resign in 2009 when it emerged he sent Mr Draper emails containing unfounded smears about Tory MPs for an anti-Conservative gossip website called Red Rag. Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries, one of those targeted, launched legal action over the "100 per cent untrue" allegations. Mr Draper, a former adviser to Lord Mandelson, was then the party's unofficial internet campaign chief. Secrets: The allegation has been made in an explosive book written by Gordon Brown's (centre) former chief spin doctor Damian McBride (left) He had started planning Red Rag with the help of Mr McBride. Labour-supporting journalists were contacted and asked to supply potential stories. Emails suggested "putting the fear of God" into shadow chancellor George Osborne by spreading unfounded rumours about him, David Cameron and other Tory MPs. The book, Power Trip, does not suggest Mr Miliband was involved in the Red Rag project. Mr McBride recalls learning on a trip to South America with Mr Brown that his email exchanges with Mr Draper had been leaked. Suing: Nadine Dorries MP took legal action after false allegations were made against her In extracts that will appear in full in the Mail next week, he tells of meeting Mr Draper on his return to the UK. He writes: ""But how could anyone have got into your emails?" I asked him. ""Oh God," he sighed, "I've been extremely naive on my password. I've changed it now, but it was pretty obvious before."" Mr McBride asked Mr Draper: "What's the worst anyone could have found if they've been in your emails?" Mr Draper reeled off a list of "ministers I am in contact with who would have problems because of things they've written to me." The names were: "Peter Mandelson - definitely, James Purnell - definitely and Ed Miliband - probably." Mr McBride warns Labour officials: "If somewhere sitting in a drawer, waiting to be deployed before the next election, are any damaging emails from Ed Miliband to Derek Draper, then I'd suggest this needs some attention." Friends of Mr Draper last night admitted he had been in regular email contact with Mr Miliband at the time and some of these exchanges could be potentially embarrassing. But one friend said: "At no stage did Derek ever receive or send emails to Ed Miliband regarding Red Rag or anything related to it, and therefore it is impossible that such emails could ever emerge in the future." Mr McBride's book also alleges that, later, Mr Miliband's inner circle was behind "anonymous and aggressive" attacks on Mr Balls, the shadow chancellor and former Labour leadership contender. It says Mr Miliband "clearly inherited all the ruthless genes in that family" and determined to stand against his brother David in the battle to succeed Mr Brown - and further his Marxist father's legacy. Headlines: From yesterday's Mail What did he know: Question marks have been raised over what Ed Balls knew about what Gordon Brown's chief spin doctor was up to Dame Tessa said extracts from the book about the "malign and awful" briefings against senior Labour figures were "truly shocking" she was concerned that the "awful, evil influence of people like Damian McBride" would overshadow Labour's achievements. The leading Blairite added: "I don't think it's damaging for Ed Miliband. I'm sure he knew that this was going on. He was actually away a lot of the time. Mr Price, who was Alastair Campbell's deputy in Downing Street, said: "It's pretty clear Ed Miliband must have known what was going on. They were part of the same operation to get Gordon Brown in place of Tony Blair as prime minister. Angry: David Cameron sent Gordon Brown a furious Christmas card after he was accused of using his children as props Derek Draper was Lord Mandelson's (left) adviser. Some of Draper's exchanges with Mr McBride are included in the book which Dame Tessa Jowell (right) described as malign and awful The question for today's politics is whether or not Ed Miliband can convince the British public that he has moved on from this style of politics. A Labour spokesman said: "Ed Miliband was not involved in any plan to smear or spread lies about opponents. Any suggestion he was is totally untrue. He has no recollection about any emails setting up this website or any similar attempt to smear opponents. A source added: "He told Gordon Brown in September 2008 he was concerned about Damian's activities and disapproved of them." Mr Draper declined to comment. Victim: Charles Clarke was destroyed by McBride's brazen tactics in 2005 Damian McBride's memoir, Power Trip, is the most eagerly awaited political book of the year and is being serialised by the Daily Mail. The first instalment of our series - published yesterday - began the extraordinary story of how the former Cambridge graduate used the political dark arts as Gordon Brown's chief spin doctor to destroy his boss's internal enemies at both the Treasury and at No 10. In what is being described as the frankest account of New Labour's toxic culture of smears, Mr McBride says he routinely discredited opponents by tipping off newspapers about "drug use, spousal abuse, alcoholism and extramarital affairs." Mr McBride also admits logging in to Mr Brown's office email and leaking details of restricted or confidential documents with the consistent aim, he writes, to "protect Gordon Brown." He said: "Everything I did as Gordon's spin doctor, I did out of devotion, out of loyalty and out of some degree of love for the greatest man I ever met." Mr McBride's brazen tactics helped destroy ex-Home Secretary Charles Clarke. In 2005, when Mr Clarke was a threat to Mr Brown's hopes of succeeding Tony Blair, Mr McBride manufactured an apparent briefing war between him and Blair's anti-social behaviour "czar" Louise Casey. Newspapers were duped into thinking the pair were bitter rivals - a clash that contributed to Mr Blair sacking Mr Clarke in 2006. Mr Brown's most implacable opponent, John Reid, quit the same Cabinet post after details were leaked of his alleged "drinking, fighting and carousing." One story published at the time included lurid claims of "drink-fuelled indecent proposals." Lord Reid was alleged to have asked Brown ally Dawn Primarolo, now deputy Speaker of the Commons, to go to bed with him during a parliamentary trip to Berlin in the late 1980s and later told her at a Commons bar: "I want sex with you." Another minister, Ivan Lewis - still a Labour frontbencher - found claims that he pestered a female aide leaked to punish him for criticising Mr Brown's tax policies. Mr McBride admits "all sense of right and wrong disappeared out of my head" but claims he was never reprimanded by Gordon Brown. Smears: John Reid quit as home secretary over allegations Proposition: John Reid is alleged to have asked Dawn Primarolo, pictured, to go to bed with him "There was something unspoken between us ...the unspoken word was from me to him, and said, "Don't question my methods,"" he said. The book also exposes Mr Brown's relationship with Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, who now run Labour. Mr Brown was said to have privately thrown his weight behind Mr Miliband, rather than his closest ally Mr Balls, during the 2010 Labour leadership contest. Mr Brown allegedly told Mr McBride to stop Mr Balls striking a deal with David Miliband to prevent his brother Ed winning. And in revelations that could fuel tensions between the two Eds, he says the current Labour leader gave "anonymous and aggressive briefings against Ed Balls" - now his shadow chancellor. Ed Miliband, the son of Marxist academic Ralph Miliband, is also said to have knifed his older brother and ran for the leadership in order to "achieve his father's vision and ensure David Miliband did not traduce it."