Cameron keeps his Coul(son)

With the Conservative Party conference proving the ideal platform for plans to slash Britain’s structural deficit- £109bn being the figure touted- one particular figure is yet to be cut from the picture. Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s media adviser, is facing fresh allegations from a senior journalist that, while editor of the News of the World, he listened to hacked voicemail messages obtained by reporters. Such a controversial claim, the like of which is very serious indeed, should alone be enough to warrant an investigation; but the actualities of the case seem almost more worrying than the claim itself.
The former NOTW executive, who spoke as part of Channel 4’s Dispatches program, threw light upon Coulson’s distorted sense of media integrity. He claimed that the former editor insisted upon seeing or listening to the phone messages in order to determine whether the proposed stories would include misinformation that might be subject to libel or defamation lawsuits. In what twisted world or journalistic immorality (if that concept is itself not a paradox) can a newspaper editor demand assurance that the illegally obtained material before him is legally viable to print? The answer, it seems, is the world of News International, the UK wing of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. His publications all but ignored the issue; The Sun gave a passing note on Scotland Yard’s ruling out of an investigation due to insubstantial evidence, and Cameron granted Coulson affirmed sanctuary. When last year a news anchor on US channel Fox, of which Murdoch is CEO and Chairman, asked the Australian to divulge, he was flatly met with refusal. The anchor replied: “No worries Mr Chairman, that’s fine with me”; and the interview continued anew. This kind of insidious contempt for freedom of the press must not be permitted shelter under the centre of Britain’s democracy.
The original allegations of Coulson’s involvement in phone hacking date back to 2007, when he resigned as editor of the tabloid newspaper following the revelations that Clive Goodman, at the time the paper’s royal correspondent, had hacked the voicemail messages of three members of the royal household. For one reporter’s illicit activities to go unnoticed by his editor is not beyond belief; but when claims began to surface of the widespread practice of phone-tapping within the NOTW offices, we are left to draw one of two conclusions. Either Coulson’s authority over his reporters was so weak as to be entirely irresponsible for their actions, or his denial of involvement and distancing from the allegations was watertight enough for him to elude suspicion. After all, Goodman was subsequently imprisoned for his role in the scandal, while Coulson managed largely to escape intense scrutiny and in a matter of months was appointed Conservative Party Director of Communications. Coulson has frequently and fervently denied his knowledge of his reporters’ practices, and since taking up his role within the innermost circles of the coalition government, seems to have benefitted from the protection of both Cameron and Murdoch, who owe much to one another following the News International union of newspapers’ full and unequivocal backing for the Tories in the recent election.
In a tumultuous few months, senior coalition figures have already been forced to bow out amid scandal and cries of foul play. David Laws, short lived Chief Secretary to the Treasury, was the first to go after details of his expenses claims were unnecessarily conflated with stories of his sexuality. William Hague had a turbulent week when he too faced “malicious rumours” regarding his own sexuality and relationship with his wife, after sharing a room with his aide on the campaign trail. Hague clung on, and rightly so; it would have been grossly unjust had he been forced to retreat under the pressure of the gossip-hungry hacks baying at his door. In the case of Andy Coulson, the same reporters who attacked Laws and Hague are those who hold positions Coulson himself once occupied: part of the same network of intrigue and backroom deals, whose reputations are made and veritably owned by News International. Now Coulson needs to be brought forward and made to account for himself, if not by tribunal then by Cameron himself, or by any senior Conservatives concerned for their party’s integrity. In this case, the allegations- unlike those regarding MPs’ sexualities- are of indiscretions that have absolutely no place in the upper echelons of government, and that further jeopardise the ever-questionable ethics of the free press. Here stands one figure whom I would be glad to see cut by the Tories.