Cameron kind of gave the impression he wasnât the worst of them, a Villa fan too of course. But to get to the position he did obviously required help along the way. He seems safe at the moment but more revelations could lead the Lib Dems to take the opportunity to jump ship and save their own skins.
Donât think the NOTW proved to be the right place for him though. Amazing coincidence that re his photographers.
John Yates Assistant Commissioner resigns now too after being told he would be suspended.
Boris Johnson avoids David Cameron resignation question
Boris Johnson fails to give a straight answer when he is asked whether David Cameron should resign over appointing Andy Coulson as his communications chief.
Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead, the Guardian has learned.
Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home.
Hertfordshire police would not confirm his identity, but the force said in a statement: "At 10.40am today [Monday 18 July] police were called to Langley Road, Watford, following the concerns for welfare of a man who lives at an address on the street. Upon police and ambulance arrival at a property, the body of a man was found. The man was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after.
âThe death is currently being treated as unexplained, but not thought to be suspicious. Police investigations into this incident are ongoing.â
Hoare first made his claims in a New York Times investigation into the phone-hacking allegations at the News of the World.
He told that newspaper that not only did Coulson know of the phone-hacking, but that he actively encouraged his staff to intercept the phone calls of celebrities in the pursuit of exclusives.
In a subsequent interview with the BBC he alleged that he was personally asked by his then-editor, Coulson, to tap into phones. In an interview with the PM programme he said Coulsonâs insistence that he didnât know about the practice was âa lie, it is simply a lieâ.
At the time a Downing Street spokeswoman said Coulson totally and utterly denied the allegations and said he had ânever condoned the use of phone-hacking and nor do I have any recollection of incidences where phone-hacking took placeâ.
Sean Hoare, a one-time close friend of Coulsonâs, told the New York Times the two men first worked together at the Sun, where, Hoare said, he played tape recordings of hacked messages for Coulson. At the News of the World, Hoare said he continued to inform Coulson of his activities. Coulson âactively encouraged me to do it,â Hoare said.
In September last year he was interviewed under caution by police over his claims that the former Tory communications chief asked him to hack into phones when he was editor of the paper, but declined to make any comment.
Hoare emerged back into the spotlight last week, after he told the New York Times that reporters at the News of the World were able to use police technology to locate people using their mobile phone signals in exchange for payments to police officers.
He said journalists were able to use a technique called âpingingâ which measured the distance between mobile handsets and a number of phone masts to pinpoint its location.
Hoare gave further details about the use of âpingingâ to the Guardian last week. He described how reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: âWithin 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say âright thatâs where they are.ââ
He said: âYouâd just go to the news desk and theyâd just come back to you. You donât ask any questions. Youâd consider it a job done. The chain of command is one of absolute discipline and whatâs why I never bought into, like with Andy saying he wasnât aware of it and all that. Thatâs bollocks.â
He said he would stand by everything he had told the New York Times about âpingingâ. âI donât know how often it happened. That would be wrong of me. But if I had access as a humble reporter ⌠.â
He admitted he had had problems with drink and drugs and had been in rehab. âBut thatâs irrelevant,â he said. âThereâs more to come. This is not going to go away.â
Hoare named a private investigator who he said had links with the News of the World, adding: âHe may want to talk now because I think what youâll find now is a lot of people are going to want to cover their arse.â
Speaking to another Guardian journalist st last week, Hoare repeatedly expressed the hope that the hacking scandal would lead to journalism in general being cleaned up and said he had decided to blow the whistle on the activities of some of his former News of the World colleagues with that aim in mind.
He also said he has been injured at a party the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a childrenâs party. He said he had broken his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a heavy pole from the marquee.
Hoare also emphasised that he was not making any money from telling his story. Hoare, who has been treated for drug and alcohol problems, reminisced about partying with former pop stars and said he missed the days when he was able to go out on the town.
Fooking hell. David Kelly was found dead on July 18th as well.
Phone hacking: Nick Clegg must lead the Lib Dems against David Cameron
The prime minister is damaged goods â by ousting him from power the Lib Dems could win back their credibility and support
Roy Greenslade guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 July 2011 15.31 BST
Unreal. I almost immediately thought of David Kelly when I read that.
TFK was the first Irish website to pick up on this story - well done MBB.
NOTW Whistle Blower found dead! :unsure:
Rocko, any chance of splitting out the last few pages into itâs own thread
Welcome to 3 hours ago Runt.
Whoops.
My comment re: splitting out the thread is still valid though.
Agreed. This thread cannot hope to deal with the beauty that is due to come out of this before its over.
From The Guardian:
[b]Police examine bag found in bin near Rebekah Brooksâs home
Former NI chief executiveâs husband denies bag â containing computer, paperwork and phone â belonged to his wife[/b]
Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International.
The Guardian has learned that a bag containing the items was found in an underground car park in the Design Centre at the exclusive Chelsea Harbour development on Monday afternoon.
The car park, under a shopping centre, is yards from the gated apartment block where Brooks lives with her husband, a former racehorse trainer and close friend of the prime minister David Cameron.
It is understood the bag was handed into security at around 3pm and that shortly afterwards, Brooksâs husband, Charlie, arrived and tried to reclaim it. He was unable to prove the bag was his and the security guard refused to release it.
Instead, it is understood that the security guard called the police. In less than half an hour, two marked police cars and an unmarked forensics car are said to have arrived at the scene.
Police are now examining CCTV footage taken in the car park to uncover who dropped the bag. Initial suspicions that there had been a break in at the Brooksâ flat have been dismissed.
David Wilson, Charlie Brooksâs official spokesman, told the Guardian that Charlie Brooks denies that the bag belonged to his wife. âCharlie has a bag which contains a laptop and papers which were private to him,â said Wilson.
âThey were nothing to do with Rebekah or the [phone-hacking] case.â
Wilson said Charlie Brooks had left the bag with a friend who was returning it, but dropped it in the wrong part of the garage. When asked how the bag ended up in a bin he replied: âThe suggestion is that a cleaner thought it was rubbish and put it in the bin.â Wilson added: "Charlie was looking for it together with a couple of the building staff.
"Charlie was told it had gone to security, by which stage they [security] had already called the police to say they had found something.
âThe police took it away. Charlieâs lawyers got in touch with the police to say they could take a look at the computer but theyâd see there was nothing relevant to them on it. Heâs expecting the stuff back forthwith.â
Rebekah Brooks was arrested on Sunday under suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, and of corrupting police officers. She is due to appear before the Commons culture, media and sport select committee today on Tuesday afternoon.
Give me a name for the new thread and Iâll split it.
Someone come up with a name quick before Sid gets here.
âA thread that has nothing to do with Today FM Sports Reporters or Olympic Swimmersâ
New of The World Phone Hacking Scandal
News Corporation - Goodnight Vienna