The activities of McBride are not news, they are well documented.
He has a book to sell and has peddled his grubby story to the national newspaper that deals in grubby stories, which is why it is suddenly a revelation to you.
From Wikipedia
// McBride joined the Treasury while Gordon Brown was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and after coming to the attention of Brown he was appointed Head of Communications at the department in 2003. Within two years he was working as Brown's special adviser, and oversaw his campaign to become prime minister in 2007.
McBride was revealed to have sent an email to Sky Television in December 2006 in which he attacked it for using Stephen Byers and Alan Milburn, two former cabinet ministers who had been close to Tony Blair as Labour commentators.
Some in the Labour Party called for his resignation, but he survived. In 2008 he was reported to have been involved in a power struggle with Gordon Brown's senior strategist, Stephen Carter which resulted in Carter being removed from his position and given a peerage and ministerial position.
During the 2008 Labour Party Conference McBride was criticised after briefing journalists about Ruth Kelly's resignation as Secretary of State for Transport several hours before she was due to make an official announcement on the subject. Following the incident he ceased to deal with the media on a regular basis and was appointed Head of Strategic Planning in Downing Street.
On 11 April 2009 it was reported by The Daily Telegraph that McBride had sent a series of emails to former Labour Party official Derek Draper discussing plans to set up the controversial Red Rag blogsite which would be used to post rumours they had made up about the private lives of senior and high-profile members of the Conservative Party. These false rumours would have included sexual and personal allegations about certain Tory politicians and their spouses, including Nadine Dorries, David and Samantha Cameron, and George and Frances Osborne. McBride conceded in his emails that he had used "poetic licence" in respect of existing gossip and rumours.
The emails, which had been sent from the Downing Street Press Office, were acquired by Paul Staines, best known for his Guido Fawkes blog who brought them to the attention of the media. The Guido Fawkes blog claimed that the publication by The Daily Telegraph was a breach of an agreement. Mr McBride resigned later the same day, and 10 Downing Street issued an apology for the "juvenile and inappropriate" emails.
Gordon Brown later sent personal letters to those who had been mentioned in the emails, expressing his regret over the incident, but Conservative politicians called for him to make a public apology. Mr Brown apologised five days later while on a visit to Glasgow, saying that he was sorry about what had happened.
Brown apologised for a second time on 22 April at the first Prime Minister's
Questions following the Parliamentary Easter recess after Nadine Dorries asked him if he would like to take the opportunity to apologise to her. On 25 April it was confirmed that Dorries intended to take legal action against McBride for the false allegations which had been made against her. On 7 September 2009 it was confirmed that Dorries would sue McBride and Derek Draper, and also take legal action against 10 Downing Street.
In his first interview on the subject of the email scandal in July 2009, McBride said that when he told Brown what he had done, the Prime Minister was so angry that he could not speak. Brown had also felt "incredibly let down". He also insisted that his job as special adviser to the Prime Minister had not involved this type of work and that emailed slurs were not characteristic of the way the Prime Minister ran his government. //
It was established long ago that McBride was a political thug.