The Tories demanded a personal apology from Gordon Brown today over planned smear stories that forced one of his closest aides to quit.

Damian McBride resigned after admitting sending “juvenile and inappropriate” e-mails from his Downing Street account to the former Labour spin doctor Derek Draper.

In the private messages, the two men discussed setting up an “attack blog” called Red Rag that would have spread unfounded gossip about Conservative opponents.

The Sunday Times reported today that the mooted stories – which are all vehemently denied – included spreading rumours about the health of the wife of George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, challenging David Cameron to reveal details of an “embarrassing illness”, and accusing a Tory MP of promoting his partner’s business interests in the Commons.

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, branded the stories “blatant lies cooked up in Downing Street”, and asked who else had been aware the talks were taking place.

“The Prime Minister should issue a personal apology and he and the Labour Party should sever all ties with Damian McBride and Derek Draper," Mr Grayling said today.

“Nothing less will remove the suspicions that other people in Downing Street knew what was going on.”

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor, said that he had been struck not just by the unpleasantness of the emails, but also by their incompetence. Labour needed to attack Tory policy rather than focusing on personality, he wrote on his blog.

“McBride will be thinking that was his big mistake – writing it all down. His really big mistake was thinking it might be effective,” Mr Campbell wrote.

“This episode is a bad example of the old politics, much more than a botched example of the new. Whatever the hoo-ha in the media, that is how Labour should see it and the politicians need to start using the web and its opportunities properly, rather than saying this shows what happens if you try.”

Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Bedfordshire, confirmed that she was among four Tories featured in the e-mails, and called for the Prime Minister to say sorry.

“I would also like to know how Gordon Brown would feel if CCHQ wrote such disgusting lies about his wife, Sarah Brown,” she wrote on her blog.

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