by Alex Massie
Earlier this week I suggested David Cameron was doing his best to cut Rupert Murdoch free. Unfortunately for the Prime Minister it turns out that this kind of amputation is trickier than it looks (and it looked plenty tricky to begin with).
Today's events have been astonishing even by this story's astonishing standards. First Rebekah Brooks resigned and now the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Paul Stephenson has resigned. A number of matters contributed to Stephenson's departure but the most salient – in the present climate – was his decision to hire Neil Wallis, a former executive at, yes, the News of the World, as an advisor.
On his way out Britain's most senior copper made sure to slip a knife into David Cameron's ribcage:
"Now let me turn to the reported displeasure of the prime minister and the home secretary of the relationship with Mr Wallis.
"The reasons for not having told them are two fold. Firstly, I repeat my earlier comments of having at the time no reason for considering the contractual relationship to be a matter of concern. Unlike Mr Coulson, Mr Wallis had not resigned from News of the World or, to the best of my knowledge been in any way associated with the original phone hacking investigation.
"Secondly, once Mr Wallis's name did become associated with Operation Weeting, I did not want to compromise the Prime Minister in any way by revealing or discussing a potential suspect who clearly had a close relationship with Mr Coulson."
Ouch. At the Telegraph Damian Thompson suggests all this means:
There’s a sense now of a tidal wave of scandal surrounding the entire British establishment. The flood waters are slowly rising and it doesn’t seem there’s a damn thing anyone can do about it.
Perhaps. The uncomfortable question for Cameron is this: if Paul Stephenson has resigned (at least in part) because of his own links with News International, what does this say about Mr Cameron's judgement and his decision to hire former Screws editor Andy Coulson as his Communications Director? To take it a step further, if Sir Paul thinks his position was ill-fated and untenable then shouldn't Mr Cameron consider his own position too?
Now we've not reached that stage yet and this may yet prove a Sunday night wobble. Nevertheless there is a sense - though it is hard to be sure of much, so febrile are the times – that almost anything could happen and that more bodies will be found or sacrificed before this scandal has run its course.
Cameron's position becomes weaker still if this Daily Mail story is proven accurate:
Disgraced former News International boss Rebekah Brooks intervened to persuade David Cameron to make ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson his spin doctor, it was claimed last night.
She is understood to have urged Mr Cameron to scrap plans to give the job to a senior BBC journalist. Mr Cameron was told it should go to someone who was ‘acceptable’ to News International.
The disclosure increases pressure on Mr Cameron over his close links to Mrs Brooks and the Murdoch empire.
You think? Of course it does. If true – a qualification of some import – this seems terrible news for Cameron. He had, it is said, been planning to hire BBC journalist Guto Harri before Mrs Brooks made her pitch on Mr Coulson's behalf. And why wouldn't she? Though disgraced, Coulson was still family…
All in all, it's a dreadful time for Cameron to be leaving the country. Yet, astonishingly, he is, departing on a long-planned trip to somewhere in Africa that cannot be disclosed for "security reasons" (so it must be Somalia or, more probably, Benghazi). 24 hours ago cancelling the trip would have looked like a sign of panic; not anymore. Stephenson's resignation changes matters and suddenly it does not look very clever for the Prime Minister to be posted Missing in Action.
Lord knows where it will all end, nor when there'll be a nice, quiet day during which all and sundry may catch their breath and take proper stock of whatever the hell is going on right now.
The Dish 