The Telegraph has published a cache of documents illuminating the internecine plotting of the Blair-Brown era. They literally have Ed Balls’ fingerprints all over them, hard evidence of what all of Westminster believes, that he was at the heart of the malign “forces of hell” which blighted New Labour. The Wednesday meetings of the Brownites were chaired by Balls in Downing Street to plot the downfall of both their internal and external enemies and ultimately Tony Blair. Balls has always denied the allegations, explicitly here to Andrew Neil who held his feet to the fire for five minutes during which Balls lies and lies:

Some will say this is a matter of only historical interest, they are wrong, the relevance to today is what it reveals about the character of Ed Balls, who still harbours the ambition to lead the Labour Party.

It is with some satisfaction that Guido notes references to the Smith Institute and its then boss Wilf Stevenson’s role in the plotting at the Wednesday meetings. All of which was denied at the time and resulted in Guido getting his own taste of the forces of hell unleashed from 11 Downing Street. Unfortunately for them Guido fought back and ultimately the Smith Institute was struck off by the Charity Commission and Damian McBride was fired. Browse the documents to see on paper Balls and the Brownites in all their cynical, malign, politically cancerous glory.