The Staggers

The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog

Why Cameron got it so wrong on Coulson

The PM has a blind spot when it comes to accusations against people who are useful to him.

By Rafael Behr Published 07 July 2011 17:21

David Cameron's political antennae have badly let him down over phone hacking. It is an important moment for his premiership, although not, perhaps, a Titanic-on-the-iceberg moment, as some commentators have implied.

Naturally, he was cosy with News International. That, sadly, goes with the territory of being PM. So the fact of courting Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks was not so much a matter of judgment as submission to perceived political necessity. That doesn't make it OK - there will be much cringing in No. 10 over the photos of Cam and Brooks looking chummy. But the fact of a relationship is not, in itself a personal blow to the PM. The NI power game is a cross-party issue in the Westminster. The Labour party (as Mehdi wrote this week) is hardly immune from criticism on that front.

It is the appointment and repeated defences of Andy Coulson that make this whole issue toxic for Cameron. Presumably, when the appointment was first made in 2007 - on the recommendation of George Osborne, let no-one forget - a conversation was had about the existence of skeletons in NoW closets and how they might, in the future, damage the party and its leader. How thorough was that conversation? Was it repeated when the Guardian first started exposing the scale of the hacking, by which time Cameron was PM and Coulson was a senior figure in the government? Whatever happened between them, Cameron must not have interrogated his advisor enough about the culture of hacking and paying the police at the News of the World. Or he did and Coulson lied to him, in which case, shame on Cam for believing him.

There is always, of course, the possibility that Coulson was sincerely ignorant about what went on in his newsroom, in which case, as has been observed before, he would have to confess to being an incompetent idiot instead of a villain. My sense of it, based on a handful of encounters with Cameron and conversations with people who know him is that the prime minister has a blind spot when it comes to accusations against people who are useful to him. There is an instructive comparison to be made with the row around Lord Ashcroft's tax status that blew up just before the election.

Cameron let William Hague take the heat over that mini-scandal and it didn't get much public notice. It was nevertheless interesting how tetchy Cameron would get when asked about it in interviews and briefings. He had two stock responses. First, no-one cares about this apart from a handful of Guardian hacks. Second, this is all politically motivated and partisan and all of the supposed outrage about tax avoidance is confected by people who really just want to kick me and the Tories. Sound familiar?

That has been Number 10's default response to the phone hacking scandal. Cameron was intensely relaxed about it until recently for the simple reason that ordinary voters didn't really know what it was all about. The Downing St switchboard was not lighting up with complaints about Andy Coulson. That reinforced the prime minister's feeling that the whole thing was a Labour ploy to damage him, using Coulson's reputation as the weapon. That brought out Cameron's mulish side. He calculated that the political risk involved in keeping Coulson on board for so long was smaller than the risk of being seen to capitulate to a lefty plot.

What was entirely missing from these calculations was any understanding of why people might, as a matter of genuine principle, think it is wrong to hack into the voicemail of private citizens, just as I don't think he ever thought people were that sincerely outraged that Ashcroft avoided UK taxes while sitting in the Lords. In other words, he treated it as a political poker game, not an ethical choice. Only now that the hacking scandal has taken in victims of crime and families of bereaved soldiers does he begin to understand that it was an appalling practice *per se* - and not just something that Labour MPs said was appalling because they don't like being in opposition.

But it's too late for him to affect moral outrage. He can try, of course. But he left it too long. He should have been naturally disgusted that a national newspaper had clearly been operating a kind of sleazy Stasi approach to newsgathering, but he clearly wasn't. That was a pretty serious lapse of political instinct. My guess is that Conservative MPs - and the PM himself - will be a bit shaken by that. The mark of a good leader is that he can smell the way the public mood will go on something and leap accordingly. Leadership fail.

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Tags: Andy Coulson David Cameron

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17 comments

Fri, 2011-07-08 12:00 — Shinyscalp (not verified)

If Coulson gets released on police bail, don't we now know that he'll have to be charged within 96 hours or let off? Isn't that why there's going to be emergency legislation rushed through to prevent bailees getting off if Plod takes more than a couple of days after arresting them to level charges?

And if that kind of emergency legislation is possible, why isn't it possible to rush through something that will bar NewsCorp from buying the rest of BSkyB? Perhaps because the Tories quite like the idea?

Tue, 2011-07-12 09:22 — Barbara MacArthur (not verified)

Did Cameron employ Coulson because Murdoch told him to?

Fri, 2011-07-08 13:58 — Stuart Eels (not verified)

What I don't get is that The Guardian knew yesterday that the Police would be arresting Coulson today.

Surely they never paid for the information did they? or do they also have a relationship with the forces of law and order as I believe all the papers do.

Having said that it is good to see the arrest, the next few months will be very interesting.

Fri, 2011-07-08 14:05 — Nigel wootton (not verified)

Harriet Harman should never have been silenced by the Speaker and Tory heckling when she was proposing action to be taken on Tax-dodger Ashcroft, around the last General Election. Ashcroft profits from money-laundering criminal's money as de facto Dictator of Belize, where he runs his banking operations. Tax-dodger Ashcroft owes the Treasury £100,000,000, and bankrolls most of the Conservative Party's money. At the same time under Cameron and Murdoch who run this country, Brooks is overseeing the Police investigations where a High Court Judge should be. I am not satisfied that News International’s Computers, data storage and electric communications equipment have been seized by the Police and properly examined for phone-hacking, Police Bribery and other criminal evidence. There is another preposterous situation where the Metropolitan Police are investigating themselves over failure to take action in the past over this monumental Political, Criminal and Ethical Scandal. Cameron, Hunt, Coulson, Brooks and Murdoch are all in the picture and must be investigated. The British Public Must Be Treated with Decency and Respect, by the government. The Police investigation should be Competent, unsullied by government corruption and all the victims of the scandal (e.g. the late Millie Dowler and her family notified through a Judicial Review. While very many people are worried about being hacked by News International et al, many MP’s have been hacked including John Prescott. And also, what about MP’s from other political parties? The General Election of 2010 must be made void, NOW. David Cameron and his government must Resign Now! If anyone agrees with me, pass the message on far and wide with your comments!!

Tue, 2011-07-12 14:24 — Arthur O'Connor

All this palaver completely hides the fact that the Murdoch Group pays practically no tax in this country. The illeglly avoided tax would comfortably repay the country's deficit. Who makes the law and rules the bloody country ? I had an email from Nick Clegg asking for my opinion. I replied that he should desert Cameron and bring down the coalition government. Supporting Murdoch is Cameron's Iraq moment. He is afraid to even kick the ugly Aussie when he's down. Clegg's stature might return to its status quo ante if he were to grasp the public indignation of Milly Dowler's phone hacking and do something about it. Like kicking the Etonian prefect up the arse and not just sitting pie faced with Milly's parents.

Fri, 2011-07-08 18:28 — Nigel wootton (not verified)

I do not think that Gordon Brown, or any other thinking citizen, should have to worry about the corrupt and politically manipulative Dirt-digger Murdoch and his filthy rags say, and which Political Parties they favour and switch from and to. Murdoch has overtly manipulated every General Election since the 1970’s! The investigations into all of News International's criminal activities are fundamental to restoring democracy to this country. Gordon Brown in my view would indeed still be Prime Minister now, with a small majority, if it was not for the Criminal corruption and collaboration of Cameron, Coulson, Murdoch, Brooks and Hunt. We have revelations of their relationships and dealings, and facts that need investigating. In the light of the government's and Brooks' current interference in Scotland Yard's investigations, David Cameron and his government must resign, now. The 2010 election must be annulled, and we must eventually have a fresh general election.
"Medusa" Brooks has plainly admitted on TV that she has paid Police Officers for information. Because she has not yet been arrested, and is overseeing Police investigations into News International, I want David Cameron and his Government to resign now. The 2010 general election result should be annulled. Do you?

Thu, 2011-07-07 21:32 — @HuwSayer (not verified)

Worth noting that David Cameron made a speech in October 2008 in which he said that leadership was all about "character and judgement" (see this report from the Guardian http://t.co/aImNvKI). Makes you wonder how much character you need to make up for such a lack of judgement.

Thu, 2011-07-07 21:43 — Freeman2

'... the prime minister has a blind spot when it comes to accusations against people who are useful to him.'

A bit like the left-liberals who defend Hari you mean?

Thu, 2011-07-07 21:47 — Graeme Hancocks (not verified)

That's Cameron for you. Did anyone get the bit in PMQ's where he ended nastily with "and I won't be taking lectures from you" (meaning Ed M. What a shit.

Talking of shits being caught out by the past, has anyone seen this of Bonking Boris Johnson trying to explain how last year he was calling the whole hacking affair nonesense cooked up by the Gaurdian and Labour and this morning saying how awful it all was and calling for a review led by a high court judge. He is completely stumped. Worth a watch - pass on to any Londoner's thinking about who they should vote for next year!
http://www.labourlist.org/johnson-flounders-over-codswollop-remark

Fri, 2011-07-08 20:44 — Indu Pendent (not verified)

Tory bashing to good for democracy.

Lets not forget that Labours ethics are very good.

Thu, 2011-07-07 22:21 — Archer2

So, it's all down to Cameron's olfactory deficiencies, is it? Can't smell the way the public will react? Doesn't know where to flip and where to flop? It's tough being a PM with no fixed principle but class interest and no sense of character and honor.

Thu, 2011-07-07 22:21 — matthew fox (not verified)

Another bad week at the office for Cameron.

Coulson now knows what it's like to be tethered goat.

Cameron's dilemma is how to protect both Coulson and Brooks.

Thu, 2011-07-07 22:43 — matthew fox (not verified)

Looks like Coulson is getting arrested tomorrow.

For some reason, the Police have told him he will be arrested on Friday.

I didn't know the Old Bill now warn suspects in advance.

Thu, 2011-07-07 22:50 — Lou (not verified)

matthew fox,

Coulson arranged with his solicitor to go and see the police tomorrow regarding the hacking, it is likely he will be arrested prior to questioning, released on bail and we'll get a statement off him via a solicitor.

Nothing new will be known from his side after tomorrow though but let's hope that he doesn't go quietly in to the night that the Murdoch Inc wolves have sent him.

Thu, 2011-07-07 23:28 — Nick9

I sincerely hope Coulson doesn't expect Legal Aid!

Fri, 2011-07-08 02:22 — Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley (not verified)

Yes I'd tend to believe the notion that everyone concerned, who ought to have been in the know, we're actually completely out of it - probably because that's what normally happened.

It seems to me therefore that in the cold light of hindsight - none of these jumped up executive/ head types were really in charge at all. If they were then surely they would have been able to pay attention or at least take note of what may or may not have been happening in the margins, so to speak.

There might have been a whole load of turning a blind eye going on throughout the whole context ie from the micro to the macro and top to bottom of - well - everything and everybody's work/life balance thing. Even to the point of such numbskull behaviour becoming of itself like a going concern which other trendy types can't help but want to copy.What sort of characters are we building here in the UK?

I have to say at this juncture - O for a decent raising a concerns policy..where time and space can be found to disentangle the can of worms that has been so rudely opened.

Fri, 2011-07-08 02:58 — Mrs.Josephine Hyde-Hartley (not verified)

oops. On further reflection I should say..

Yes I'd tend to believe the notion that everyone concerned, who ought to have been in the know, was actually completely out of it - probably because that's what normally happened.

Could be a good one to explain what's happening with the Sheik, over on Mark Watsons page perhaps.