London, Apr. 17 : British Prime Minister Gordon Brown finally bowed to pressure and said sorry for the "Smear Gate" e-mails sent by one of his closest aides, Damian McBride.

Opposition politicians welcomed Brown's apology, but said it had come late and left questions unanswered.

The Government hoped it would draw a line under the affair, which erupted after emails between McBride, and pro-Labour blogger Derek Draper became public.

But there were rumours more embarrassing emails existed which could torpedo Down-ing Street's bid to portray the incident as a one-off.

According to the Daily Express, a pained looking Brown said: "I am sorry about what happened. I take full responsibility for what happened, that's why the person who was responsible went immediately. I have said all along that when I saw this first, I was horrified, I was shocked and I was very angry, indeed."

He added: "I think the most important thing we do is reas- sure people everything is being done to clean up poli-tics in our country." (ANI)