Damian McBride resigns © Matt Buck Hack Cartoons

One of the PM’s closest advisors, Damian McBride, has chosen to resign before publication of evidence about his attempts to smear the reputations of leading Conservative politicians. It’s a scoop and a scalp for Paul Staines aka Guido Fawkes.

UPDATED: 11am on 12th April. You can read the full story on The News of the World site here, The Sunday Times have more detail here. Channel 4 offers some context on other players in the drama including Derek Draper of LabourList.org

UPDATE: 1pm. Labour MP Tom Harris has some considered comments available which catch the general feeling of disgust about what has been done by McBride and Draper.

UPDATE: 3pm. Derek Draper issues public apology.