By James Chapman, Daily Mail Political Editor PUBLISHED: 19:06 EST, 22 September 2013 | UPDATED: 05:32 EST, 23 September 2013 Ed Miliband's attempt to distance himself from controversial spin doctor Damian McBride ran into serious trouble last night. The Labour leader insists he asked Gordon Brown to sack Mr McBride because of his ‘reprehensible’ briefings against colleagues. But Mr McBride says he and Mr Miliband worked together for eight years and enjoyed ‘four years of real friendship’. Friends? : Ed Miliband, left, shared 'four years of real friendship' with the spin doctor he blasted as 'reprehensible', according to an extract of Damian McBride's memoirs, Power Trip
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Damian McBride says they were friends when working together for 8 years
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Miliband only complained when McBride revealed his role in Brown's misjudged call for 2007 election, memoirs claim
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Labour leader has rejected spin doctor's antics as 'reprehensible'
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How Mr Brown plotted to put Ed Balls in charge of economic policy to undermine Alistair Darling. After calls at the weekend for Darling to return to the shadow cabinet, McBride warns it would be disastrous to recall the ‘catastrophically inept’ former chancellor;
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He confesses to smearing John Major and Norman Lamont over the Black Wednesday, financial crisis while still a supposedly neutral civil servant funded by the tax payer.
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He reveals details of Mr Brown’s wild rages and how he attacked BBC political editor Nick Robinson as a ‘f****** Tory’;
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He admits leaking dozens of Budget secrets.
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