The Conservatives long hunt for a communications chief is over. Andy Coulson, ex-editor of the News of the World, will be confirmed later today as its new communications chief and it’s an appointment that will stun Westminster. No one would have thought the party would get someone of his calibre.
Last summer Andy hired me as a columnist to the News of the World. I’d meet him every Friday before writing the column, and soon found how sharp he was. From tax burden figures to troop deployments, he seemed to know everything – and, crucially, how to present it.
He’s a tabloid man, yes, but with the ability to look at a Cameron speech on crime and say “hug a hoodie” (it was the News of the World who coined the phrase). This is the ability the Tories woefully lack. No one looked at Willetts’ speech and said “grammar school row”.
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