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The majority of the public thinks that Downing Street’s Director of Communications Andy Coulson should be removed from office (pdf) and that investigations into the News of the World phone tapping affair should be reopened after fresh allegations, our survey reveals.
In 2007, the News of the World’s royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glen Mulcaire, were jailed over conspiracy to intercept the voicemail of senior royal aides. The editor at the time, Coulson, denied all knowledge of the operation but accepted ‘ultimate responsibility’ and stepped down. He has since become David Cameron’s Director of Communications, but recent allegations have suggested that phone tapping was widespread at the paper and that Coulson was aware of its use.
Losing his job
Just over half the population (52%) believe the Government’s PR boss should lose his job because of this, compared to 24% who think that Coulson, who has denied the allegations and said he is ‘happy to voluntarily meet’ police to assist further investigation, should keep his position.
Strikingly, just 14% of the population think that the police conducted a full investigation of the phone tapping affair at the time. Although the Metropolitan Police maintain that they gave the Criminal Prosecution Service full access to the clear evidence gathered, almost half of the public (47%) say they do not believe a full investigation was carried out, and a considerable 54% of Brits believe that the police should re-open the investigation, compared to under a quarter (24%) who doesn’t think this necessary.
Editorial ethics
Although this case of illegal story acquisition is limited to News of the World, it appears that the general public do not have much faith in the ethics of other publications either. A staggering 80% of the public believe that other newspapers ‘probably do similar things’, and the News of the World reporter ‘just happened’ to get caught
I’m delighted to welcome former Deputy Leader of Sandwell Conservatves, Councillor Elaine Costigan to the Labour Party. Elaine says that “Michael Gove made me ashamed to be a Conservative”.
Elaine is a powerful voice for Wednesbury and Sandwell. She’s passionately cares about the future of Sandwell’s children and was rightly appalled by the Coalition government’s callous cuts to Sandwell’s schools. I’m delighted she’s joining Labour and look forward to further discussions with other councillors.
Up and down the country, people are realising that they were hoodwinked by David Cameron and Nick Clegg during the General Election. Whoever wins the Labour leadership election will have to build alliances with members of the other parties who feel betrayed by their political leaders.
Here’s a release from the Media Standards Trust:
The Media Standards Trust today, Friday 3rd September, gives its full support to calls for a judicial inquiry into the allegations of phone-hacking at the News of the World.
Tom Watson MP, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, yesterday wrote to Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. Mr Watson argued that the allegations published by the New York Times – that ‘one of the country’s most powerful newspapers was routinely listening in on its citizens’ contrary to evidence given to the CMS select committee by Andy Coulson and Les Hinton, and that the police colluded with News International – constitute ‘clear grounds for a judicial enquiry’. The MST wholeheartedly agrees.
Mr Watson also calls for the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate the ‘serious allegation’ of collusion. The MST agrees.
In July 2009, the MST called for the press to take the initiative and ‘appoint a genuinely independent figure with wide-ranging powers, to conduct a lengthy and detailed investigation’. This was in response to the revelation, published by The Guardian (8th July 2009), that ‘News Group News¬papers ha[d] paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his journalists’ repeated involvement in the use of criminal methods to get stories’. An independent inquiry instigated by the press, we argued, ‘could prove to critics of the system of press self-regulation that it is – contrary to popular perception – able to hold the press to account’ and ‘could help to renew public confidence’. The call was not taken up.
We believe strongly in the principle of a self-regulated press, but given the new allegations made by the New York Times and the failure of the press to confront the issue of phone-hacking, we believe that only an independent judicial inquiry with full subpoena powers can now bring all the facts to light. Despite the excellent work of the select committee, and the sustained investigation by The Guardian, the full facts of the case remain unclear. Only an independent inquiry can expose the scale of the intrusion and indicate whether it is still going on, and – critically – restore public confidence in the press.
Sir David Bell, chair of the MST, said: “We believe strongly that it is critical for all the facts surrounding this issue to be made public. In view of what has happened we believe that a judicial inquiry must be the right way forward and that it should begin at once.”
