Coulson in knowing nothing shocker.
Has anyone ever been charged with perjury as a result of evidence given at a perjury trial? You have to ask on the basis of the truly astonishing performance being put in by Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of the World and still for now David Cameron's chief spin doctor, who has been all but denying he ever even worked for the Murdoch paper while being cross-examined by Tommy Sheridan. Completely unsurprising is that he's still keeping up the pretence that he was the only person in what used to be termed Fleet Street that didn't know about phone hacking and all the other illegal blagging tricks being used and abused by both the tabloid and broadsheet press.
The incredible and what could end up damning him new shtick to his act is his insistence that he had never had any contact whatsoever with Glenn "Trigger" Mulcaire, just one of the private detectives the Screws was using at the time. In fact, Coulson went even further than that:
Now, either Coulson really was completely ignorant of what went on in the Screws' newsroom, despite him boasting the exact opposite to the Press Gazette at the time, or he's telling one of the most blatant and easily disprovable lies of recent times. His explanation is that he knew of Mulcaire's company, Nine Consultancy, knew that they were being paid £2,000 a week, yet somehow didn't know the main man behind the outfit. Is it really possible that he hadn't even heard Mulcaire's name being mentioned in connection with stories that he must have been working on to earn that £2,000 a week?
Not that anyone will ever get the chance to testify against him. It was a foregone conclusion that the renewed investigation into the phone hacking allegations would end with no new charges once the police had decided to question those who had come forward disputing Coulson's account under caution. Sean Hoare and other former hacks on the paper were hardly going to incriminate themselves by admitting to working in a newsroom where the use of the "dark arts" was completely out of control. Happily this also means that the first investigation by the Met, which limited itself to just the phone hacking carried out by Clive Goodman and Mulcaire has been completely vindicated. Everything is once again right with the world, and the Met and News International can continue to have a fruitful and reciprocal friendship. Who could possibly object to that?
The incredible and what could end up damning him new shtick to his act is his insistence that he had never had any contact whatsoever with Glenn "Trigger" Mulcaire, just one of the private detectives the Screws was using at the time. In fact, Coulson went even further than that:
"I didn't know him as an individual. I didn't meet him, didn't speak to him, didn't email him, never heard his name," he said.
Now, either Coulson really was completely ignorant of what went on in the Screws' newsroom, despite him boasting the exact opposite to the Press Gazette at the time, or he's telling one of the most blatant and easily disprovable lies of recent times. His explanation is that he knew of Mulcaire's company, Nine Consultancy, knew that they were being paid £2,000 a week, yet somehow didn't know the main man behind the outfit. Is it really possible that he hadn't even heard Mulcaire's name being mentioned in connection with stories that he must have been working on to earn that £2,000 a week?
Not that anyone will ever get the chance to testify against him. It was a foregone conclusion that the renewed investigation into the phone hacking allegations would end with no new charges once the police had decided to question those who had come forward disputing Coulson's account under caution. Sean Hoare and other former hacks on the paper were hardly going to incriminate themselves by admitting to working in a newsroom where the use of the "dark arts" was completely out of control. Happily this also means that the first investigation by the Met, which limited itself to just the phone hacking carried out by Clive Goodman and Mulcaire has been completely vindicated. Everything is once again right with the world, and the Met and News International can continue to have a fruitful and reciprocal friendship. Who could possibly object to that?
Labels: abuses by tabloids, Andy Coulson, Clive Goodman, dark arts, Glenn Mulcaire, News International, News of the World, politics, Rupert Murdoch, Tommy Sheridan
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