David Cameron’s long-planned trip to Africa has been foreshortened again. He will now return
on Tuesday evening, as opposed to Wednesday morning. This, we are led to believe, is so that he can finalise the terms and membership of the Leveson inquiry ahead of Wednesday’s
emergency parliamentary session. The scramble for Africa has become the scramble from Africa.
As this crisis deepens, the forthcoming public inquiries grow ever more important for the Prime Minister. Lord Justice Leveson will examine the alleged misdoings between members of the police and the media; Leveson will not convene until the conclusion of the criminal investigation. Cameron is also preparing another inquiry to investigate media regulation, now that the Press Complaints Commission has been proved inadequate by this scandal. Start dates will need to be agreed for both inquiries. Finally, Cameron and his aides will discuss the membership of these panels.
This last point is extremely awkward for the government. The media storm is so strong that Cameron will not get away with appointing any ‘soft touches’ to the inquiry panels. Besides, it’s unlikely that he would commit such a blunder in any event, given that he is so closely associated with Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. At the same, there’s little to be gained in excessive self-flagellation: this is not a Thomas à Becket moment. Cameron’s crimes amount to nothing more than loyalty to his friends, loyalty that may have been misplaced. His premiership may be impeded in consequence, but it should not be imperilled. The inquiries’ panels will be central to restoring confidence in him; therefore, their balance will be intriguing and the subject of much internal debate.
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