Gordon Brown's former spin doctor has insisted his boss never asked him to smear other Labour figures who posed a threat to his ambitions.
Damian McBride told Sky News he "didn't feel licensed" by Mr Brown to brief against key figures in the party when Labour was in power.
He denied the former prime minister had ever come to him to ask how to tackle a rival, although he admits he felt free to operate as he wanted.
"The only times you would ever have a discussion like that was if there was an active coup in motion," the ex-adviser told Sky's Political Editor Adam Boulton.
Mr McBride, whose memoir about the tumultuous Blair-Brown years has prompted fresh Labour rancour, admitted he had done "seriously wrong".
Damian McBride says the two Eds probably didn't know what he was doing He insisted some of the people affected were also "bruisers" who knew the "rough and tumble of politics" but concedes others were "totally innocent civil servants".
"I didn't feel licensed by him [Gordon Brown]," he said. "I felt that I had a freedom to operate in a way that I did.
"That was entirely because of what intelligence I was able to bring back to him and contacts I was able to bring back to him from parts of the media other Labour politicians couldn't reach."
He also admitted the political world became "corrosive", saying: "The longer I was in the system, the worst my behaviour became."
The interview came as it emerged Mr McBride has dedicated his controversial memoir Power Trip to Mr Brown.
"To Gordon, the greatest man I ever met. Thanks for all you did," the inscription reads.
Mr Brown has so far refused to comment on the latest revelations about the bitter in-fighting when he was chancellor and prime minister.
Gordon Brown in New York on Monday where he refused to comment He was repeatedly challenged on Monday during a trip to the UN in New York, but he refused to condemn his former aide or give any reaction to the book.
Mr McBride himself admits he will have angered his former boss by lifting the lid on his years of spinning and smearing behind the scenes.
Damian McBride's book on display "He will be both angry at some of the revelations and angry at the assumption that there is guilt by association," he told the Daily Mail.
"I regret that he will be feeling like that. But I don't think there was a way to tell my story without being open about this stuff."
In a separate interview, the former aide said: "I don't think he knew what I was doing a lot of the time. I operated a lot of the time in the shadows ...
"Gordon knew he got from me media influence that was unparalleled and access to different bits of the media that other politicians couldn't reach.
"He never asked me quite how do you pull this off, because he just thought it was my personal relationship with journalists."
In what will be a relief to Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, he said they would have known even less about his activities.
"I didn't work with them on a day-to-day basis in the way I did with Gordon," he told BBC's Newsnight.
Mr McBride says he accepts criticism from some new MPs but has attacked others who also played a part in the feuding.
"Other people were quite clearly involved in these years - and are not entirely innocent themselves," he told the Daily Mail. "It's a bit hard to take.
"Maybe it's because some people have got old scores to settle that there's a feeling that this is a chance to give me a kicking - and by extension give some old enemies a kicking."
He is rumoured to have made £100,000 from the book and told Sky the figure was around six figures.
"I have done well out of writing the book. I make no apologies for that," he said.
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