‘Joker’ Smith denies threatening to cause trouble if ousted

DEFENCE Minister Michael Smith insisted yesterday he was only joking when he told another minister earlier this week that he would be “more dangerous on the way down” than in the Cabinet.

Photographers heard Mr Smith making the remark when he was chatting to Communications Minister Dermot Ahern at the Fianna Fáil gathering held at Inchydoney in Co Cork.

"There has been so much media attention on the possibility that I would be dropped from Cabinet that I decided to make a joke out of it while they were taking our pictures but I did not think anyone was taking it seriously," Mr Smith said yesterday.