Confidential documents stolen from the Northern Ireland Office could be leaked to try to damage the SDLP Westminster campaign, South Down MP Eddie McGrady has claimed.
His warning was prompted by publication yesterday of a memo, prepared by a senior NIO official connected to the political affairs division at Stormont, which was anonymously given to the Irish News and a local newspaper in Mr McGrady's constituency.
The document, written and signed by Chris McCabe, now attached to the British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat, detailed Mr McGrady's differences with SDLP leader John Hume and his dealings with Sinn Féin in 1994, months before the first IRA ceasefire that year.
Mr McGrady "disagrees fundamentally with the way John Hume is acting, which he thinks is elevating Sinn Féin/PIRA to a position of respectability they do not deserve (more than once he described them as the 'scum of the earth')," the memo states.
Elsewhere, the memo records that Mr McGrady feared that dealings between the British government and republicans in early 1994 "would further enhance Sinn Féin's standing at the expense of the SDLP".
"John Hume had left such cares behind and was pressing on regardless, confident of his place in the history books."
Caitríona Ruane, Mr McGrady's Sinn Féin opponent in the May 5th election, said: "I utterly refute Eddie McGrady's allegation that Sinn Féin leaked this NIO memo. This is a futile attempt by Mr McGrady to distract attention from the substance of the document.
"This document is written by a senior British official. If there is any smear involved it is by that official. If the author of the memo has libelled Mr McGrady then he should sue him."
Mr McGrady denied accusing either Ms Ruane or Sinn Féin of leaking the document. "That confidential NIO document was stolen and leaked," he said, refusing to be drawn on who was responsible. "I'm surprised at the allegation."
He accused those who leaked it of "a desperate attempt" to blacken his name, which would fail. "My views on the development of the peace process, on the good faith of the Provisional movement and on the intransigence of hardline unionists are a matter of record," he said.
Last night John Hume endorsed Mr McGrady's remarks, saying: "It is disgraceful that parties are trying to exploit a stolen document for political advantage."