#NEWS Prime Minister under pressure after Coulson quits over phone row

heraldscotland.

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• Andy Coulson has now lost two jobs over the phone hacking scandal

Michael Settle, UK Political Editor It is one of Westminster’s truisms that when the spin doctor becomes the story it is time for him to leave. So it was for Charlie Whelan, Gordon Brown’s press aide, in 1999 over Peter Mandelson’s home loan controversy, and Damian McBride, another Brown aide, in 2009 over the plan to smear the Tories. The most famous spin doctor of them all, Alastair Campbell, who regularly hit the headlines, quit in 2003, saying his family had paid a price for his high-pressured job. He famously warned that if a spin doctor was the story for two weeks running, it was time for him to go. In his resignation letter, Andy Coulson finally accepted this reality. “When the spokesman needs a spokesman,” he wrote, “it’s time to move on.” The general view at Westminster is, and has been for quite some time, that David Cameron’s appointment of Mr Coulson, in the face of the continuing phone hacking row, was a hostage to fortune. It was for many a question of when, not if, the former News of the World editor would quit; the fuse was long but the bomb was always going to explode. Given Mr Coulson’s connections with Rupert Murdoch, one suggestion has been his appointment by the Tory leader was a personal favour to the media mogul, whom political leaders desperately seek to keep onside. Yet this was always a high-risk strategy for the Prime Minister, who only this week was again asked about his right-hand man and talked about what a great job Mr Coulson was doing. “There is a danger at the moment,” insisted Mr Cameron, “that he is effectively being punished twice for the same offence.” He added: “I gave him a second chance. In life, sometimes it’s right to give someone a second chance.” Throughout, Mr Coulson has insisted he knew nothing about the phone hacking, which resulted in the NoW’s former Royal Editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire going to prison. Yet the story refuses to die. Indeed, earlier this month the paper announced it was conducting its own internal inquiry after suspending assistant editor Ian Edmondson – hired by Mr Coulson – over claims that the phone of actress Sienna Miller was hacked. Then, there was Mr Coulson’s appearance last month at the perjury trial of Tommy Sheridan, the former Scottish Socialist leader, when he again had to deny knowledge of the phone hacking allegations. It is thought this appearance made Mr Coulson begin to think it was time to go as, in the case of previous spin doctors, the unrelenting media attention on him was not only distracting from the Government’s message but also detracting from it. Worse still, it was beginning to seriously impact on the PM’s work and increase criticism of his judgment. Moreover, with stars of screen, stage and sport preparing court action against the Metropolitan Police to force the disclosure of more evidence about alleged NoW phone hacking, and the Crown Prosecution Service reviewing all the evidence to date, the controversy was not going to go away anytime soon. Now, Mr Cameron will have to search around for a replacement. It will not be easy to find one, and this time round the Conservative leader will have to make sure that his right hand media man or woman does not become a rival for the headlines. Profile: Andy Coulson had travelled a long way, from an Essex council estate to Downing Street. While David Cameron’s team is filled with public school and Oxbridge-educated graduates, the 43-year-old, who attended a state comprehensive and chose a job as a local reporter over going to college, offered the Prime Minister a different slant on the world. He was given his big break by CNN’s new star interviewer Piers Morgan, who hired him in 1988 for the Sun’s showbusiness gossip column, Bizarre. After a brief interlude at the Daily Mail, Mr Coulson returned to Wapping to edit Bizarre. Mr Morgan described his colleague as “one of the best journalists I have ever worked with”. Later he joined the News of the World as its deputy editor and within two years succeeded Rebekah Brooks as its editor. His tenure saw a string of old-fashioned tabloid scoops, lifting the lid on the private lives of David Beckham, Sven-Goran Eriksson and David Blunkett. In 2005, the NoW won the Press Gazette Newspaper of the Year award. Yet within two years Mr Coulson had quit in the wake of the phone hacking scandal, which saw the paper’s royal editor Clive Goodman jailed. At the time, Mr Coulson insisted he took “ultimate responsibility” for the illegal activity but has consistently maintained he knew nothing about it. In May 2007, a Press Complaints Commission inquiry found no evidence he or anyone else at the NoW knew of Goodman’s activities. In the same month Mr Coulson became the Tory leader’s director of communications, on a reported salary of £475,000. After the General Election result last year, Mr Cameron took him into No 10 to run its press office on a much lower salary of £140,000. Yet the phone hacking controversy did not go away, and, with several celebrities determined to take legal action, the shadow is set to continue to hang over Downing Street. A father-of-two, Mr Coulson will soon have more time to spend with his family and watching his beloved Tottenham Hotspur. Timeline: November 2005: Complaints by royal staff members about intercepted voicemail messages spark police inquiry after News of the World publishes story on Prince William’s knee injury. January 2007: Clive Goodman, NoW’s royal editor, jailed for conspiracy to access phone messages left for royals. Private detective Glenn Mulcaire is jailed for six months on the same charge. After the verdict, Andy Coulson formally resigns as NoW editor, but claims he did not know about the practice. July 2009: The Guardian claims NoW reporters were involved in widespread phone hacking of up to 3000 celebrities, politicians and sports stars while Coulson was editor. February 2010: House of Commons Culture, Media and Sports Committee report accuses the NoW of “collective amnesia” over the extent of the practice of phone hacking. September 2010: Commons Home Affairs Select Committee announces a fresh inquiry into phone hacking allegations after a former NoW reporter says phone tapping was “endemic”. December 2010: Crown Prosecution Service judges there is “no admissible evidence” to support hacking allegations. December 2010: Mr Coulson gives evidence as a defence witness in Tommy Sheridan’s perjury trial. December 2010: CPS says it will review all material about phone hacking at NoW following a civil action launched by actress Sienna Miller over attempt to hack her phones. NoW executive Ian Edmondson suspended as a result. Michael Settle and Robbie Dinwoodie

22 Jan 2011

David Cameron faced accusations of bad judgment last night after his communications chief Andy Coulson succumbed to the unrelenting pressure of the phone hacking scandal, and quit.

It is thought the final straw for the former News of the World editor could have come last month during the perjury trial of Solidarity leader Tommy Sheridan when Mr Coulson – who resigned from the paper over the scandal – was again forced to deny any knowledge of phone hacking on his watch at the tabloid.

His appearance over two days at the High Court in Glasgow also timed with student riots and the attack on the royal limousine in London, hindering his ability to carry out his high-profile communications role.

Meanwhile, Aamer Anwar, the solicitor for Sheridan – who plans to take legal action to find out how a private investigator working for the News of the World obtained his personal details – last night called for Mr Coulson’s evidence given at the perjury trial to be re-examined.

“His resignation will not make this go away. Members of the public should not have to take legal action to get to the truth,” he added.

“It is time for an independent judicial inquiry into the role of Coulson and News International as the conduct of the Metropolitan Police investigation has been unacceptable.”

At Westminster yesterday, senior Conservatives were torn between feeling the resignation of Mr Cameron’s chief spin doctor was a great loss and believing he had left just in time.

More celebrities, suspecting their phones were tapped, are threatening legal action while the authorities are now reviewing all the evidence regarding phone hacking claims.

Another key development happened earlier this month, when News of the World assistant editor Ian Edmondson was suspended pending an investigation into more claims of phone hacking following suggestions actress Sienna Miller was targeted.

Labour backbencher Tom Watson described Mr Coulson’s resignation as “the end of the beginning”, noting: “There is a lot more to come out.”

Earlier, Mr Cameron expressed sorrow at the loss of such a key figure and believed he had been “punished for the same offence twice”. The PM said: “He’s done an excellent, excellent job. He should be judged by that. This is all about the past.”

In his resignation statement, Mr Coulson said he was proud of serving Mr Cameron.

“Nothing,” he explained, “is more important than the Government’s task of getting this country back on its feet. Unfortunately, continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World has made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role.”

Stressing once again that he knew nothing of the phone hacking under his editorship, Mr Coulson noted: “When the spokesman needs a spokesman it’s time to move on. I’ll leave within the next few weeks and will do so wishing the

Prime Minister, his family, and his brilliant and dedicated team the very best for what I’m sure will be a long and successful future in Government.”

In Scotland, meeting Labour MSPs, Ed Miliband said Mr Coulson should have resigned earlier. “David Cameron made the wrong judgment in keeping him when it was clear there were these allegations that he was going to have to deal with, which were going to make his job at the very least very much more difficult as the director of communications at No 10,” he said.

Pete Wishart, the SNP’s home affairs spokesman, said: “The serious questions behind this resignation raise questions about David Cameron’s judgment.”

Lord Prescott, the former Deputy Prime Minster, another alleged hacking victim who is taking Scotland Yard to a judicial inquiry over the matter, criticised the relationship between the News of the World and the Met, saying it was wrong for the former to pay the latter for information.

“I’m not a fan of the Met and I don’t think they’ve covered themselves in any glory over this whole affair,” he said.

“They’ve been more involved in covering up instead of a proper investigation. Now I might be wrong about that but I’ve gone to the courts for the judge to make a judgment,” he added.

Meantime, Mr Coulson was at home reflecting on how the phone hacking scandal had resulted in him losing not one but two high-profile jobs.

End of line for Coulson as he accepts it is time to go

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