Guido has been very busy today, and has only just got back from the Charity Commission’s offices. So had missed the news that this morning the Lobby has been discussing with the PMOS Guido’s exclusive revelation on Saturday regarding the private email system used by Labour party apparachtiks in Downing Street. You know, the one that the PMOS says doesn’t exist.

On Saturday Guido also called for a correction from the PMOS, the Lobby got the hint, this is today’s official note;

Channel Four’s Political Editor said that he had picked up from the PMOS an “angry” tone, and did we feel that the police were putting things into the public domain without reporting directly to Downing Street, the PMOS asked the journalist if he was really telling him that police involved in an ongoing investigation were leaking details to the press, because if he was, it was a very serious allegation.

Asked if that could be the only way in which some of the information could have got into the public domain, the PMOS said “you tell me”. We believed that any conversations between the parties involved should be private.

Put that we had “rubbished” any idea of alternative computer networks, but the Mail on Sunday and “Guido Fawkes” website had both claimed that they had evidence of alternative email networks in No. 10 that linked up to the Labour Party, the PMOS said that we stood by what we said to ITN. There was only one email system at No. 10.

Asked if it would be possible for someone to “hop on” using a No. 10 computer onto the Labour Party network, the PMOS said again that there was only one email system at No. 10.

Asked further questions about the possibility of an external server, or the possibilities of sending Labour Party emails, and did only one system allow for more than one email address, the PMOS repeated that there was only one email system in No. 10. As the PMOS said on Friday, people in No. 10 could not access hotmail, gmail etc because of security reasons, and he was not aware of anyone who had more than one email address.

Asked if people could send political emails from the No. 10 account, the PMOS replied that he was not going to get into the details of the system. The claim that was put to us was that there was more than one system, and there is not. There is only one, and the police have had access to everything that went through the system.

Read it carefully and you can see he is not denying the existence of the private network, or that Downing Street staff can use it, he is saying that there is only one email system “at No. 10”. He is not denying the fact that political staff can, and do, use the Labour party’s private system. He is just being evasive. Guido, and no doubt even Lobby journalists, can vouch for the use of Hotmail accounts by Downing Street staff. They could be using their laptop’s mobile cards, their personal PDAs, but they can and do use Hotmail accounts for delicate matters. Be assured of that…