The Staggers: Andy Coulson

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To New Statesman readers, reports that Andy Coulson received several hundred thousand pounds from News International after he was hired by David Cameron should come as no surprise. In July, Kevin Maguire wrote in the NS:

The things you hear muttered in parliament . . . Could News International really have subsidised Andy Coulson's wages while he worked for David Cameron? I'd dismiss it out ... read more

If David Cameron thought the heat was off him and his decision to hire Andy Coulson, he was wrong, after it has emerged that Coulson was reportedly paid several hundred thousand pounds by News International after he was hired by the Conservative Party.

The BBC's Robert Peston reports that Coulson received cash payments from his former employers until the end of 2007. He took up his ... read more

Earlier this month I speculated that Andy Coulson could eventually be charged with perjury. During Tommy Sheridan's trial last December, Coulson was memorably asked by Sheridan (who acted as his own counsel): "did the News of the World pay corrupt police officers?" He replied: "Not to my knowledge."

But since then, News International has passed emails to Scotland Yard allegedly showing that Coulson authorised payments to police officers in return ... read more

As Ed Miliband put it, David Cameron today offered a "half apology" for his decision to appoint Andy Coulson as his director of communications. "With hindsight", the PM said, he would not have offered him a job and he suspects Coulson would not have taken it. He confessed: "You live and learn and believe me I have learned."

Cameron's admission has bought him some valuable political breathing space. Having persistently refused ... read more

Stay tuned for live coverage from 11:30am.

11:33: We're off. The Speaker begins with a short statement on the "wholly unacceptable" attack on Rupert Murdoch at yesterday's select committee hearing. He announces that he has set up an independent investigation into the security failure.

11:35 Cameron begins his statement. Until we sort this issue out, he says, we won't be able to get back to other issues such as the economy and ... read more

Labour is stepping up the pressure on David Cameron following the resignation of Britain's top police officer, Sir Paul Stephenson.

The head of the Metropolitan Police stood down yesterday, citing speculation about the relationship between News International and the police force. The pressure on him grew with the revelation that he had employed the News of the World deputy editor, Neil Wallis. Notably, Stephenson directly referred ... read more

One small but revealing moment in David Cameron's press conference earlier today: when he was asked whether he was warned about specific problems in Andy Coulson's past he said he couldn't "recall" being told. A warning light should go on any time a politician uses that formula. It is neither a denial, nor is it an acknowledgement. It is a holding device that says, in essence, "I don't have a ... read more

Andy Coulson's arrest has finally been confirmed. David Cameron's former director of communications was arrested on suspicion of "inappropriate payments to police".

Here's the full statement from the Met:

"The MPS [Metropolitan police service] has this morning [8 July 2011] arrested a member of the public in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking.

At 10.30am officers from the MPS' Operation Weeting together with officers from Op Elveden arrested a man on ... read more

As an act of damage limitation, David Cameron's press conference began well. He promised a full public inquiry with a judge in charge so that there's "no question that it is totally independent". He declared that the Press Complaints Commission had "failed" and signalled an end to the system of self-regulation.On the BSkyB bid, he merely stated that the government would "follow legal processes" but skipped over the subject so ... read more

Update: The Times reports that Coulson will be questioned at a west end police station later today.

The day Andy Coulson must have dreaded is finally here. Exactly two years since the revelation that News International paid out more than £1m in hush money to gag phone-hacking victims, David Cameron's former director communications will be arrested. ... read more

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 ... read more

Speculation is mounting that several arrests will be made in the phone hacking case over the next 24 hours, potentially including that of Andy Coulson. The Evening Standard puts a figure (£100,000) on the unlawful payments the police received from News International. One source tells the paper: "They were running a criminal enterprise at the News of the World. Serious crimes have been found. The ... read more