Mandelson’s associate denies Harman rebuked after leaking ‘dirty dossier’ on MPS recounting Holocaust ‘joke’
A FORMER Conservative intern who now works for Lord Mandelson has denied allegations he was behind the leak of the so-called dirty dossier on the sexual behaviour of 40 MPS.
Joe Armitage, 23, has been named as a possible source of a document that MPS say is highly damaging to their reputations and has threatened to destroy relationships.
MPS have consulted lawyers amid an intense search for the author of the document and the people who distributed it. If the source is found, he or she would face a monumental legal bill.
Mr Armitage has come under the spotlight after spending two years working as a parliamentary assistant to Phillip Lee, who was appointed a justice minister in July last year. A month ago, Mr Armitage took up a new post as a senior associate with Global Counsel, a consultancy set up by Lord Mandelson, the architect of new Labour.
Mr Armitage yesterday issued a statement, strongly denying any involvement in the leaked document after being identified as a possible suspect by The Sun. He said: “I was not the author and did not disseminate or leak the document.”
He added: “Very firmly, I am not one of the dossier authors. This is quite obviously a political hit job and it is also true that some ministers believe in homeopathy and that the moon landings were a hoax. Doesn’t make it true.”
Dr Lee said: “I have no more knowledge about this document than I have read in the press, and certainly no knowledge of who may have been involved in its production.” HARRIET HARMAN provoked an angry response from the BBC’S Andrew Neil after she recounted an anti-semitic joke on live television.
The former deputy leader of the La- bour Party suggested Mr Neil would think an anti-semitic quip was “perfectly all right”, before repeating the offensive joke on Thursday evening’s edition of BBC One’s This Week.
Ms Harman said: “I’ve long been accused of being a humourless feminist and I’ll give you two examples that I protested about because they were offensive and hurtful.
“So, this was a Guy’s Hospital rag magazine back in the day and people like Andrew say that these things are perfectly all right. Two jokes. One was, ‘How do you get 100 Jews into a Mini? One in the driver’s seat and 99 in the ashtray.’ That’s not funny.”
Neil later said that he was “appalled and even a little bit upset”, adding: “What was wrong was 1) Even to tell that so-called joke on live TV. 2) Claim I would like the joke. Appalling on both counts.”
Simon Johnson, of the Jewish Leadership Council, demanded an apology from the MP for what he termed “a staggering error of judgment”.