And another thing…

Careful Tom. This might be said to apply equivalently to the Prime Minister and Damian McBride.

Sorry should have added that Coulson did resign as editor of the NOTW when wrongdoings became apparent – so no equivalence there then.

No, you should resign. However, if you get another job, I think you should make sure your new employer knows of your past, and in those circumstances, so long as you are not hiding anything else, you should be free to live and work without further harrassment relating to this episode.

After all, the Labour Party has spent decades fighting for workers’ rights so that employees cannot simply be dismissed without due process.

I hope that makes you feel better, Tom.

For the last twelve years my staff have been bullying the press and my colleagues, telling lies, mounting smear campaigns, cobbling together dodgy dossiers from the internet. Oh I could go on. But it was nothing to do with me. So thats alright then. Yes?

Reminds me of McBride and his boss Gordon Brown. Except Coulson was the boss and his employee went to jail. So if Coulson is to blame form his employees actions does that mean that Gordon Brown is to blame for Mcbride’s actions even though neither allegedly knew what was going on?

I think this is going to end up leading to another ‘egg in Brown’s face’moment. Labour cannot do smear since Mcbride went.

obangobang: “if you get another job, I think you should make sure your new employer knows of your past, and in those circumstances, so long as you are not hiding anything else, you should be free to live and work without further harrassment relating to this episode”

So you’re saying that David Cameron knew that thousands of people were victims of a number of News of the World journalists, not just the Royal Correspondent? Have you informed the police and media of this?

Tom,

Glad you are on message, but eventually this co-ordinated Labour attack on Coulson will fail because as Yates said ther is no new evedence and the Guardian hasn’t produced any today and the NOTW is arguably no worse and possibly better than many of the other papers. See the results of the Information Commisioner’s findings as the Guardian did report.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/jul/09/information-commissioner

Hell’s teeth. So you know about my gambling problem then. Damn.

Son, I spent my life, reading people’s faces…

“So you’re saying that David Cameron knew that thousands of people were victims of a number of News of the World journalists, not just the Royal Correspondent? Have you informed the police and media of this?”

No, like them I have no evidence to support such a suggestion. However, no doubt you’ll be passing your evidence to the CMS Select Committee, and they in turn, presumably, will be asking Yates of the Yard to reconsider the evidence for a third time.

I suppose it’s a bit like terrorist enquiries, if you look hard enough you’ll find something to pin on an innocent man, at least enough to justify holding them without trial and traducing them through the media in the meantime.

Fairly typical Labour Party tactics, really.

Have you informed the police and media of this?

Why would you inform the media?

…knowin what the cards were, from the way they held their eyes, and if you don’t mind me sayin, I can see you’re out of aces, for a taste of your whisky, I’ll give you some advice…

Are you people naturally thick or do you have to work on it?

Coulson resigned after ONE journalist was caught hacking into peoples phones.

Coulson said he knew nothing about it which is plausible if it was ONE individual.

Now, according to The Guardian, TWENTY SEVEN NOTW journalists are said by a senior police source to have done the same thing.

Did Coulson not know about these TWENTY SEVEN? Chinny reckon I say (a bit colloquial perhaps).

Listen to that well known New Labour devotee Andrew Neil who says editors always ask where the story came from.

The only reason this isn’t a bigger issue is that most papers do the same thing and so aren’t going to make a fuss.

If Coulson stays Cameron can kiss goodbye to any claims to moral authority because the hacking will be brought up again and again and again and again.

Here endeth the lesson (yes I did watch The Untouchables on Film 4).

Lisbon Treaty, Obama Beach is an unelected PM.

Well, you said I never replied on topic

Glad to see you are starting to sing from the Party hymnsheet now Tom – they might let you back into the big-boys club if you keep it up.

Best way to make sure is tell us about the rise in Labour spending that is coming and remind us about the evil tory cuts that are happening now.

They will defnitely have you back then.

I am still waiting for the proof/evidence. Yawn

‘So you’re saying that David Cameron knew that thousands of people were victims of a number of News of the World journalists, not just the Royal Correspondent? Have you informed the police and media of this?’

Have you informed the police and media about your staff’s activities yet? :whistles:

Yep, let’s refry an old story from four years ago, set up Prescott and Campbell as moral arbiters to the nation, and win an election.

Such a mastermind, Mandy, ain’t he. (Apart from the way he keeps getting sacked)

So, what you’re saying is that Coulson should never work again and if he ever gets another job he should immediately resign from it.

Tell that to Hain, Blunkett, Mandelson or any of the other Labour Ministers who’ve been “rehabilitated” after getting caught with their hands in the till.

@ Simon: well said. In particular,
‘Listen to that well known New Labour devotee Andrew Neil who says editors always ask where the story came from.’

Note to some of Tom’s commenters who have trouble with irony – that bit in bold is irony. Neil is the former editor of the Sunday Times, so he knows what he’s talking about. He is also a Conservative supporter, which he makes no bones about.

Cameron’s reaction to all this seems peculiarly complacent. It doesn’t say much for his judgement, either in how he deals with a crisis or how he chooses who he puts in such an influential position within his party machine.

The theme of many of these comments, regarding McBride and others, misses the point completely. It might be quite satisfying to go on the attack on ‘NuLab’ and everything the Daily Mail complains is wrong with them – and pretend that Dave Cameron’s Conservatives are wonderful and squeaky clean. It just isn’t very convincing, that’s all.

Coulson hasn’t been shown to do everything wrong!

Give us some proof that he knew about what was going on and i’ll be right there along with you calling for him to go!

To those who say that if he’s not a criminal then he’s incompetent for not knowing what his staff where up to i would a simple question. Why should incompetence exclude you from working for the CCHQ communications when it doesn’t bar you from working for government, for parliament, for the police, and for many other organisations?

This is one of the things i hate about politics; there really is no honour amongst thieves!

Labour in the immortal words of Kevin Keegan would “LOVE it” if Coulson became a sort of McBride type scandal.

Though as usual they haven’t thought through the full implications.
if Coulson ought to go for nefariuos activity at the NotW then Brown must go for McBride’s wrong-doing within No.10

As Crash Gordon himself said “I take full responsibility that’s why the person responsible has resigned”. x

[...] followers of Tom’s every blogpost, so I had a look at Tom’s latest blogpost – A Confession, which currently has 21 comments on it. Seven are clearly anti-Labour and pro-Tory. Two of those [...]

@Ben

Why should incompetence exclude you from working for the CCHQ communications

etc.

Anybody can make a mistake. How old are you? About 17 would be my guess.

The tedium of youth. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of
sound and fury, signifying nothing.

I’m getting fed up as I keep saying. Rapunzel doesn’t seem to post here any more. I only came here for her. I had a dream you see. Keep your smart remarks to yourselves.

So I wish to announce the creation of my own blog – at last – you will be free. But it is a blog with a difference. It is so virtual that it will not exist at all – no words or other symbols shall be posted on it and it shall have no title. It is a thought experiment and I plan to do no thinking – why change the habit of a lifetime?

Get your copy today. Signed first editions trade for a fortune you know.

If you’re going go, if you’re staying stay. But don’t wobble.

The Long Goodbye. The cop had him right where he wanted him – in a low income bracket.

There are no laughs in Dostoyevsky. But there are a couple of ‘o’s

An ancedote, an anecdote. Things are more harmless than they seem.

I was crossing George Square in Glasgow this lunchtime. If you don’t know Glasgow then you get no sympathy from me. It has several reputations, as a city, not all of them unjustified. It is seldmom remarked upon its beauty. That’s what I see in it. And the beauty of its women. I love women. I’m old fashioned. Women are to be cherished, kissed, pampered, and bought nice things for. Men are to be killed. There is no point to other men.

Anyway, anyway, I’m crossing George Square and I hear this engine noise. Now, I used to be a biker – 1200 cc Yamaha FJ (told you I like women – no use for men at all). So I thinks, what the hell is that? Honda 1500 – Harley?

Nope. It was a tank. Metal thing with a gun. A big one.

Tanks on the streets of Glasgow, Just like the good old days of socialism.

(See – I brought it back to politics).

As previously mentioned by many others, Brown was McBride’s boss wasn’t he?

Also, I look forward to many more three year old stories on the front page of The Grauniad.

That boomerang I talked about in your other post, I think it may be in the air…
http://www2.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2009/07/10/has-labour-just-blown-it-with-rupert-murdoch/

Isn’t there anything more pertinent for you to say against the Tories than stuff that happened several years ago?

Surely there must be something a bit more ‘up to date’? LOL

This is starting to look a bit sad & desperate for Labour.

Hi, Jim. Hope you’re well.

I thought it was a certain type of Tory woman that filled your dreams? Teresa, Maggie, Anne, Nadine.

Keep posting. Tom would miss you if you left this place!

You know Tom, the more I see of this story, the more it reminds me of “The Godfather”, “The Sopranos” and other gangster tales. So many layers of command, minions taking the hit and going to jail, and the real Mr Bigs completely untouchable, and swanning around in the respectable world of high society, with the celebs, the politicos and royalty.

So, you should be okay then. I’ll say a prayer for your soul.

@SH,

No. Tom knows it. He’s going through the motions. Oh, he’s still a Labour man at heart – he won’t cross the floor – trouble is – he’s starting to wonder if he’s the only one. You only get one life. Spend more of it with your lovely missus and the Krays. First time around didn’t work. No blame – these things happen. But – sod the public. No, really, I’m with you – sod them.

I’m quite amused by the idea that anyone who works for any MP would have the time to tap anyone’s phone in the first place!

If Andy Coulson didn’t know and the allegations are true, then he was a negligent manager who wasn’t paying enough attention to how his staff were getting the information.

If he turned a blind eye,and the allegations are true or if he did know, then he was part of an operation which broke the law.

Either way, I can’t really understand how anyone could keep him in a high profile PR job, particularly if there was any prospect of him having access to the heart of government.

@ Commenters on Tom Harris MP’s blog | Fetler’s Blog

‘Seven are clearly anti-Labour and pro-Tory. Two of those are swivel-eyed loon-esque.’

How do you arrive at these figures? And how would you classify my post? Do you really think that you (or Nicky) are objective enough to be making judgements about the political views of other commenters?

Labour can’t even get a half decent scandal right. This is completely zzzzzz and nobody cares.
Not only that you’ve managed to alienate News International less than 12 months before a GE which could see you out of power for quite a long time.

As the Americans say: way to go!

@ Harry T.

I agree. Yawns all around. This is a re-hash of an old story and to cap it off, Cameron already has the perfect riposte (e.g. “Coulson took responsibility for what his people were doing and resigned, unlike Gordon Brown after Smeargate”)

Now, if there was some proof that he was directly involved then this might have some legs but otherwise it’s just about slebs getting angry about journalists doing dodgy journalistic stuff.

Actually, Richard, I kind of agree – even I’m getting bored with this. But I’ll take issue with you on one point: “This is a re-hash of an old story.” It’s not, you know.

The old story was that the NotW’s Royal Correspondent tried to hack into the voicemails of members of the Royal household. The story now is that there was a systemic attempt by dozens of journalists to tap the private phones of thousands of celebrities. Hardly a “re-hash”, even for those, like yourself, who could never admit that the Conservative Party or its leader could ever do or say anything wrong.

Actually, it was 75 people, not thousans. The guardian have exaggerated a bit. The analogy between Coulson and Brown is sound too. Doez anyone genuinly Brown didn’t know what McBride was doing? That was the only reason he’s there.

Bloody hell, how many typos there? Too much vino last night!

Isn’t it truly remarkable that people who foam at the mouth at the prospect of “the surveillance society” are so relaxed about a newspaper illegally tapping private individuals’ phones in order to report the details of conversations?

Of course, such an approach would have nothing to do with trying to protect an individual who happens to work for David Cameron. I’m sure that if Alastair Campbell had been the editor of NotW at the time, my readers would be every bit as supportive…

I’m not supporting Coulson but I’m not condemning him either. Without evidence of any wrongdoing on his part it’s just a leftwing witch-hunt. And yes, if people were going after Campbell without solid proof I’d feel similar about him. I’m not a dyed in the wool Tory. I used to vote Labour but their actions over the last few years have made up my mind for me and this latest attempt at playing the man and not the ball is yet another example at the Labour malaise.

@ Tom,
The story now is that there was a systemic attempt by dozens of journalists to tap the private phones of thousands of celebrities

Still yawnworthy, I’m afraid. It would be vaguely interesting if there was some evidence that Coulson was directly involved or that anyone who was “in the know” at the time was still with the paper. Fortunately all of those who were directly involved resigned or were fired the first time the story came out.

@ Tom
“even for those, like yourself, who could never admit that the Conservative Party or its leader could ever do or say anything wrong”.

I take exception to that last comment. I’ve never been afraid to say when I think that Cameron is wrong. For instance, bringing Ken Clarke back was completely stupid.

Won, Richard. You realty don’t take prisoners, do you?

Fair’s fair. When he trips up I’ll criticise him but as a card-carrying member of the party I support his main aim which is to make sure that Gordon Brown and the Labour Party are never able to attain high office ever again.

‘Of course, such an approach would have nothing to do with trying to protect an individual who happens to work for David Cameron. I’m sure that if Alastair Campbell had been the editor of NotW at the time, my readers would be every bit as supportive…’

I personally could[n't] care less if Coulson stayed or go’d. ‘Course, I’m sure you have no special interest in fueling the controversy, so we can all rest easy that you wouldn’t be crowing about it if Cameron did sack his head of communications…