It may have been knocked off the front pages by the US debt imbroglio but there have been several important developments in the phone hacking scandal. Yesterday brought the revelation that News International ordered the technology firm HCL to delete hundreds of thousands of emails; today we learn that an unnamed 71-year-old man, believed to be former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, was arrested this morning.

The man has been "arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1 (1) Criminal Law Act 1977, and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906." They are the same allegations that Rebekah Brooks, who was arrested last month, must answer.

Kuttner resigned as the NoW's managing editor in 2009 after 22 years in the job and thereafter continued to work on "specialised projects", including the paper's Sarah's Law campaign. In 2008 he declared: "It happened once at the News of the World. The reporter was fired; he went to prison. The editor resigned."