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…

Quote of the Month, comes by kind permission of the left-wing broadcaster Michael Crick, from the dark side’s Wilf Stevenson, director of the Smith Institute. After the third phone call from Newsnight’s Crick last week Wilf yelled “This is disreputable journalism, you are following the agenda of Guido Fawkes” … before slamming down the phone.

Normally this kind of thing when leaked is not that exciting, Guido is usually underwhelmed by the details of by-election battle-plans and suchlike. But you know, the perma-tanned boy-racer is so bloody irritating that hopefully outing some MPs who have tentatively promised him support (no doubt they have said the same to other candidates) will give him a bit of a slap and please many rugby fans.

Particularly amusing to see listed is the promise by Harriet Harman’s PPS, Martin Linton, that he will publicly support her rival for deputy leader. What is clear is the total state of paralysis gripping the party of government as all minds are focused on positioning. Poor the Harriet…

Confidence in Blair has reached an all time low according to the pollsters, the polls show his party has fallen 12 percentage points in 12 months, the Sunday Telegraph reports that that the Loans for Lordships paper trail leads to an inked margin note in Tony’s handwriting. The police have lost track of hundreds of paedophiles, the Home Secretary is writing to judges asking them to free the guilty because they have not built new prisons. The army is overstretched and under-equipped providing target practise for enemies who present no threat to the national interest and are readying for their own civil war. The NHS is in chaos and schools policy is in disarray. The Labour party faces annihilation in Scotland at the hands of the SNP and the cabinet is on the edge of anarchy with ministers openly campaigning against government policies. Two trusted close Downing Street advisers have been arrested and another two interviewed under caution as suspects. The police have even asked a few difficult questions of the PM himself.

This is the gateway to the Labour party’s private secure email system used by Downing Street officials for sensitive party political communications, it is not part of the government network and is currently the object of intense police interest. It utilises military level RSA encryption, but if you want to try your luck guessing usernames and passwords – www.lpnet.org.uk.

Yesterday morning the Lobby asked the PMOS about Downing Street’s email systems, the official Lobby note says:

Asked if there were a separate e-mail address such as some using the letter X and some not, the PMOS said no. Asked if people had ‘Hotmail’ accounts at Downing Street, the PMOS said because of security access to such e-mails accounts was not allowed. The police had had full access to everything they wanted. The fallacy was that in someway Downing Street had not cooperated with the police, that was not true.

On both the X-prefix point and the Hotmail question, Guido has direct experience of email exchanges with Downing Street people using “x.gsi.gov.uk” mail accounts and using Hotmail to, errm, well… lets just say Guido knows they use them. So perhaps the PMOS can check again and make a correction on Monday. Emails will be to the Blairgate cover-up, what tapes were to the Watergate cover-up.