Andy Coulson resigns

[Mermaid]

Resigns as director of communications to David Cameron.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jan/21/andy-c...

Judgemental error by DC?

Edited by Mermaid on Friday 21st January 11:42

[Parrot of Doom]

Good day to bury bad news.

[MadMullah]

Inevitable.

I do think as the former editor it was easy to know your stories didnt always come from legit sources. should've resigned when this broke by prolonging it i think he damaged his own standing even more.

[Fittster]

Was he actually any good? The coalition don't seem to have the same control over the media as A. Campbell had.

[tubbystu]

Parrot of Doom said:

Good day to bury bad news.

You are probably right, what with Blair squirming at the Iraq enqury and the Johnson resignation story taking centre stage. However as it is only Friday, all the Sunday's will be ripping up the lead and in-depth analysis stories. A current Govt based story should take precedence over shadow govt / old stories, unless Blair thinks he too can sneak something past the journos with all this other stuff going on.

IMHO Andy Coulson should have gone long ago.

Somebody - I forget who, but think they had been a Fleet St editor or senior jouno at least - stated that he was either the worst national newspaper editor ever, if he was not aware of how is lead story had been acquired; or he knew everything all along. No other position was viable.

Either way, he was seen as being of just not enough calibre to be in charge of the Downing Street communications role.

[Gaspode]

Fittster said:

Was he actually any good? The coalition don't seem to have the same control over the media as A. Campbell had.

Agreed. Even allowing for the fact that the BBC are a bunch of Labour-worshippers, it ought to be possible for a skilled PR machine to manage to get more focus on Conservative policies.

Maybe all they need is to start getting their soundbites from PH. I particularly liked PilchardTheCat's point about running a deficit being inter-generational theft. I can just imagine CMD standing up in the Commons: "Labour are deficit lovers. They are prepared to steal from your children to stay in power".

I reckon we could do a pretty good job for them. We could even do a deal- if we can get their popularity over a certain amount, then PH members' cars would be treated as Tax Exempt

[poo at Paul's]

So which Copper is shagging his missus, then?

[tubbystu]

poo at Paul's said:

So which Copper is shagging his missus, then?

Andrew Christopher "Andy" Hayman CBE QPM ?

Having resigned from leading the inquiry into the NOTW phone hacking, he know writes for NOTW stable-mate The Times.

[MadMullah]

quite funny

an ex editor of the NOTW complaining about how he doesnt like media intrusion

[ninja-lewis]

tubbystu said:

Parrot of Doom said:

Good day to bury bad news.

You are probably right, what with Blair squirming at the Iraq enqury and the Johnson resignation story taking centre stage. However as it is only Friday, all the Sunday's will be ripping up the lead and in-depth analysis stories. A current Govt based story should take precedence over shadow govt / old stories, unless Blair thinks he too can sneak something past the journos with all this other stuff going on.

IMHO Andy Coulson should have gone long ago.

Somebody - I forget who, but think they had been a Fleet St editor or senior jouno at least - stated that he was either the worst national newspaper editor ever, if he was not aware of how is lead story had been acquired; or he knew everything all along. No other position was viable.

Either way, he was seen as being of just not enough calibre to be in charge of the Downing Street communications role.

To make the matter worse, he was questioned under oath on the subject in the Tommy Sheridan trial. If he did know about the phone hacking, he has committed perjury, which may be enough to undermine the conviction against Sheridan.

But according to the papers, there has been some sort of war between the No 10 Policy wonks, led by Steve Hilton, and Andy Coulson's PR people. It may be that Hilton has simply won through on several fronts rather than any involvement in phone hacking by itself.

[Justayellowbadge]

MadMullah said:

quite funny

an ex editor of the NOTW complaining about how he doesnt like media intrusion

Indeed.

It's bloody brilliant.