LONDON LETTER:David Cameron has left unanswered questions about his relationship with News International
DAVID CAMERON managed to make a joke or two in the House of Commons yesterday, prompted by a Conservative MP whose wife wondered if there was a chance of a weekend visit to Chequers – the British prime minister’s country residence – now that visits by media barons would be marked by their rarity.
The good humour hid real worries, however, since the prime minister has left several unanswered questions about his relationship with News International that will haunt him for months, if not years, to come.
He was repeatedly asked to reveal the substance of the 26 meetings he had with Rupert and James Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks and a host of News Corporation and News International executives since he moved into No 10.
Repeatedly, Cameron evaded, saying only that any discussions were “appropriate” – the word used on Tuesday by Brooks, who quit as chief executive of News International last Friday.
The evasion is not accidental.
Pressed by Labour leader Ed Miliband to apologise for hiring former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief in opposition days, Cameron went further than ever before to distance himself from Coulson.
“I have an old-fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty, but if it turns out that I have been lied to, that would be the moment for a profound apology. In that event, I can tell you that I will not fall short,” he said.
However, the Coulson problem will not go away.
Cameron was in trouble when he was questioned about his declaration that a private company had been hired to check out Coulson’s credentials beforehand.
Again and again, he was pressed to name the company. He refused to do so, leaving the strong suspicion around Westminster corridors last night that the company, if it were named, would be shown to have had links with the News of the World.
Everywhere Cameron turns, he runs into the legacy left by the tabloid.
The discovery that Coulson took advice from his former deputy editor, Neil Wallis, when he was planning for the 2010 election campaign left the Conservatives struggling on Tuesday night.
Now it emerges that Coulson may have met Wallis, a friend, at No 10. The fact that such a meeting took place probably means little, but it reinforces the belief that the links between the Conservatives and News International were too deep for comfort. So far, the Conservatives are sure they did not pay Wallis for anything. But they are not sure what he did and nor can they be sure that Coulson – a master spinner himself – will not retaliate now that No 10 is denying him three times.
Besides his talents, Coulson’s recruitment was a natural choice for Cameron, since he brought with him access to the ear of Rupert Murdoch: “You never find people at that level ‘in the wild’. They never really leave Rupert,” said one person who worked with Coulson.
Cameron can hope now for time to catch his breath, assuming there is not another chapter in this extraordinary story.
The Commons is going into summer recess, while the Murdochs have come and gone from Westminster.
However, the Levenson inquiry, tasked with investigating the culture of the British press and the relationships between the press and politicians and between the press and the police, will be under pressure to begin its on-oath hearings in the autumn.
Cameron will not be the only one facing questions, since many hands failed to prevent the ties between the owners of media companies and politicians – always close in Britain – becoming dangerously intertwined in the decades after Murdoch became a force.
However, the Conservatives may have to back down trying to draw in Miliband's press chief, Tom Baldwin, who investigated Tory fundraiser Lord Michael Ashcroft during his time with the London Times.
The Conservatives have alleged that Baldwin hired investigators to get details of Ashcroft’s bank accounts. But, in a delicious irony, Miliband quietened a Tory critic yesterday, telling him that Baldwin’s boss for much of that time was one Michael Gove, now education secretary.
Unlike earlier in the week, Cameron yesterday enjoyed the raucous support of Conservative MPs, with the man he defeated for the party leadership in 2005, David Davis, and one who still harbours ambitions, first in the queue to be helpful.
The support was noticeable for its earlier absence. No cabinet ministers went out to bat on TV, print or radio, while some lower-rank Conservatives privately wondered if the crisis could actually claim him, even if they doubted it.
However, Cameron has been weakened, and his people know it – though the outcome is not necessarily bad news for some since they doubt his true Conservative credentials and hate his preference for coalition.
Raucous support comes at a price.
