Scandal

Aside from Boris’s exhortations to George Osborne, one of the most ear-catching lines of the day has been uttered by Jeremy Hunt. “I think the relationships between politicians and the media got too cosy,” said the culture secretary on Radio 5 this morning. He’s certainly not the first to make the point, but he is one of the most prominent Conservatives to do so. The words, I suspect, were chosen to cool the heat rising from yesterday’s lists of meetings between ministers and media organisations. Hunt himself, it was revealed, has met seven times with News Corp types since the general election. Hunt’s admission also opens the prospect of a

Edward Llewellyn has been making headlines and there was speculation about his future. Many a right-wing MP rubbed their hands with glee, seeing Llewellyn as a ‘wet’ impediment to a tougher European policy. But, Number 10 came out strongly in support of the PM’s aide. Some people huffed, whispering that loyalty to friends like Llewellyn means more to Cameron than the health of the party. But this is a blinkered reading. First of all, John Yates himself said he thought Llewellyn had acted properly. As he said to the Home Affairs Committee: “It was a very brief email exchange and Ed, for whatever reason, and I completely understand it, didn’t

The questions following David Cameron’s statement to the House of Commons have just finished. As Cameron answered 136 questions, it became increasingly clear that the immediate moment of political danger appears to have passed for the Prime Minister. By the end of the session, Cameron was even joking about inviting Mrs Bone to Chequers for the weekend. In his opening statement, Cameron placed far more distance between himself and Andy Coulson than he had before. For the first time, he expressed regret about the appointment. He told the House that, ‘With 20:20 hindsight – and all that has followed – I would not have offered him the job’. This recognition

The news that Neil Wallis was informally advising Andy Coulson without the knowledge of any of the other senior figures in the Tory party is a reminder of just how dysfunctional the Tory party machine was pre-election. It is also an indication of the license that Coulson was afforded. The Tories cannot say if anyone else offered Coulson this kind of ‘informal advice’. The Tories are stressing that they did not pay Wallis or his company. But it is a massive embarrassment for the Tory party that two people who did work for it in its preparations for the election have now been arrested by the police. I expect Cameron

The phone hacking saga continues interminably.  Simon Hughes appeared on Sky News earlier in the day to discuss the latest revelations. He refused to condemn David Cameron for entertaining Andy Coulson at Chequers and turned on Tony Blair instead. He said: “I’m much more critical of the fact that under the Blair era we knew, and this will all come out in the public inquiry, we knew that Blair flew just before the 1997 election to the other side of the world to meet Murdoch, we know that Tony Blair, three times in the ten days before the Iraq war was declared, was in touch with Rupert Murdoch” The Iraq

Here is the list that James referred to earlier in full: Guests to Chequers from May 2010 to present Government guests and senior media guests: Danny Alexander MP and Rebecca Alexander Lord Ashdown Tony Baldry MP Greg Barker MP and George Prassus Lord Terry Burns and Lady Ann Elizabeth Burns Rebekah Brooks (June 2010 and August 2010) Brigadier Ed Butler and Sophie Butler Ian Cheshire and Kate Cheshire Ken Clarke MP and Gillian Clarke Nick Clegg MP Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles Brigadier James Cowan Air Chief Marshall Sir Stephen Dalton Alan Duncan MP and James Dundeath James Fergusson Stanley Fink and Barbara Fink Daniel Finkelstein and Nicky Finkelstein Liam Fox MP