Andy Coulson, a former editor of The News of the World Sunday tabloid who later became Mr. Cameron’s communications director both in opposition and in office, was to testify at the so-called Leveson inquiry that heard evidence from Rupert Murdoch and his son James last month.
Mr. Coulson, 44, was to be followed on Friday by Rebekah Brooks, a former editor and later chief executive of News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of News Corporation, the Murdoch family’s global media conglomerate.
But, while the hearings are being closely watched for any clues about the influence and access of Mr. Murdoch’s staff to Britain’s power elite, they also underscore one of the principal limitations of the judicial panel headed by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, whose inquiry is one of three overlapping investigations.
Additionally, a parliamentary committee and the police have been investigating the phone hacking that surged into public view last year with disclosures that the phone of Milly Dowler, an abducted schoolgirl, was hacked in 2002 when she was missing and before her body was found.
Public revulsion at those revelations inspired the authorities to launch all three inquiries and, since then, the police have arrested, but not charged more than 40 people — including Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks — as part of the investigations into phone hacking and illegal payments to the police.
Those arrested so far are free on bail. Under British law, they may not be asked questions at the Leveson inquiry that could prejudice any subsequent trial, limiting the investigators’ ability to probe deeply into the details of hacking allegations relating to them.
But, at a time when Mr. Cameron’s Conservative-led coalition government is reeling from local election defeats and when previous testimony at the inquiry appears to have revealed a cozy relationship between a government minister and Mr. Murdoch’s representatives, any further suggestion of close ties with Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks could be politically damaging.
Mr. Coulson is expected to talk to the inquiry on Thursday about his appointment in May 2007 as Mr. Cameron’s communications director, shortly after he resigned the editorship of the now defunct News of the World because of earlier questions about phone hacking that led to the brief imprisonment of the newspaper’s royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire.
Mr. Coulson stayed with Mr. Cameron through the Conservatives’ electoral success that brought the British leader to power in a coalition with the junior Liberal Democrats in May 2010. But, eight months later, he quit his job at 10 Downing Street after the hacking affair burst back into public view, saying the pressures of the scandal were distracting him from his work.
The testimony on Thursday by Mr. Coulson will be his first public cross-examination since he was arrested and released on bail last July.
Mr. Cameron has since sought to distance himself from his former aide, saying around the time that Mr. Coulson was detained that, “with 20-20 hindsight and all that has followed, I would not have offered the job, and I expect that he wouldn’t have taken it.”
The hearings on Thursday follow a cascade of sensational disclosures and developments in the affair.
Earlier this month, the parliamentary panel investigating the scandal said in a finding split along partisan lines that Rupert Murdoch was not a fit person to run an international business empire.
The separate Leveson inquiry, for its part, unearthed e-mails last month that showed what seemed to be a close relationship between a lobbyist for Mr. Murdoch and the office of Jeremy Hunt, a government minister who was in charge of scrutinizing a $12 billion bid by Mr. Murdoch to take full control of Britain’s biggest satellite broadcaster. Mr. Murdoch abandoned the bid as the hacking scandal unfolded.
Resisting opposition calls for his resignation, Mr. Hunt has denied any impropriety and is to testify himself before the inquiry in the coming weeks.
After questioning Mr. Coulson on Thursday the Leveson inquiry is to hear testimony from Lord Rothermere, who owns the conservative Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
View the original article here
Mr. Coulson, 44, was to be followed on Friday by Rebekah Brooks, a former editor and later chief executive of News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of News Corporation, the Murdoch family’s global media conglomerate.
But, while the hearings are being closely watched for any clues about the influence and access of Mr. Murdoch’s staff to Britain’s power elite, they also underscore one of the principal limitations of the judicial panel headed by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, whose inquiry is one of three overlapping investigations.
Additionally, a parliamentary committee and the police have been investigating the phone hacking that surged into public view last year with disclosures that the phone of Milly Dowler, an abducted schoolgirl, was hacked in 2002 when she was missing and before her body was found.
Public revulsion at those revelations inspired the authorities to launch all three inquiries and, since then, the police have arrested, but not charged more than 40 people — including Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks — as part of the investigations into phone hacking and illegal payments to the police.
Those arrested so far are free on bail. Under British law, they may not be asked questions at the Leveson inquiry that could prejudice any subsequent trial, limiting the investigators’ ability to probe deeply into the details of hacking allegations relating to them.
But, at a time when Mr. Cameron’s Conservative-led coalition government is reeling from local election defeats and when previous testimony at the inquiry appears to have revealed a cozy relationship between a government minister and Mr. Murdoch’s representatives, any further suggestion of close ties with Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks could be politically damaging.
Mr. Coulson is expected to talk to the inquiry on Thursday about his appointment in May 2007 as Mr. Cameron’s communications director, shortly after he resigned the editorship of the now defunct News of the World because of earlier questions about phone hacking that led to the brief imprisonment of the newspaper’s royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire.
Mr. Coulson stayed with Mr. Cameron through the Conservatives’ electoral success that brought the British leader to power in a coalition with the junior Liberal Democrats in May 2010. But, eight months later, he quit his job at 10 Downing Street after the hacking affair burst back into public view, saying the pressures of the scandal were distracting him from his work.
The testimony on Thursday by Mr. Coulson will be his first public cross-examination since he was arrested and released on bail last July.
Mr. Cameron has since sought to distance himself from his former aide, saying around the time that Mr. Coulson was detained that, “with 20-20 hindsight and all that has followed, I would not have offered the job, and I expect that he wouldn’t have taken it.”
The hearings on Thursday follow a cascade of sensational disclosures and developments in the affair.
Earlier this month, the parliamentary panel investigating the scandal said in a finding split along partisan lines that Rupert Murdoch was not a fit person to run an international business empire.
The separate Leveson inquiry, for its part, unearthed e-mails last month that showed what seemed to be a close relationship between a lobbyist for Mr. Murdoch and the office of Jeremy Hunt, a government minister who was in charge of scrutinizing a $12 billion bid by Mr. Murdoch to take full control of Britain’s biggest satellite broadcaster. Mr. Murdoch abandoned the bid as the hacking scandal unfolded.
Resisting opposition calls for his resignation, Mr. Hunt has denied any impropriety and is to testify himself before the inquiry in the coming weeks.
After questioning Mr. Coulson on Thursday the Leveson inquiry is to hear testimony from Lord Rothermere, who owns the conservative Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
View the original article here
No comments:
Post a Comment