MERSEY MP Frank Field last night accused Gordon Brown of allowing No.10 to become “an agent of terror” in the wake of the smear campaign run by his closest adviser.

The Birkenhead MP said the media operation set up by the Prime Minister was more concerned with “destroying people” than with giving people positive reasons to vote Labour.

Mr Field appeared to doubt No.10’s protests that Mr Brown knew nothing about the now-notorious emails sent by the disgraced Damian McBride, saying: “McBride thought he was doing his master’s bidding – he wouldn’t have done it otherwise.”

And he warned that the scandal had left Labour MPs “staring into the abyss” as the general election loomed, because it had exposed the Government’s chronic lack of direction.

The comments came as the Conservatives attempted to raise the heat on the Prime Minister, by urging the Cabinet Secretary to investigate who knew of the plan to set up the “Red Rag” website to air the salacious allegations.

The letter, sent by Francis Maude, the shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, read: “Specifically, was the Prime Minister aware of the proposed website or the concept behind it?”

The spotlight turned on Mr Brown after it was revealed that Derek Draper, the other architect of the smear campaign, joined him at Chequers late last year – just 12 days after Red Rag was launched.

Tory leader David Cameron also attempted to turn the scandal into an election issue, by insisting only a change of government could drive such dirty tricks out of politics.