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Tory leader David Cameron's chief spin doctor today admitted things went "badly wrong" under his stewardship of the News of the World.
The admission came from Andy Coulson, who edited the Sunday tabloid at the time of the phone hacking scandal that saw its royal editor sent to prison.
Answering questions from MPs probing new claims that such illegal activities had been rife, Mr Coulson denied that he had ever known about or approved such practices but took the blame for failing to prevent them.
"Things went badly wrong under my editorship of the News of the World," he told the cross-party culture select committee.
"I deeply regret it. I suspect I always will. I take the blame because ultimately it was my responsibility."
He added: "I am not looking for sympathy and I am unlikely to get any today. But when I resigned I gave up a 20-year career with News International and in the process everything I worked towards from the age of 18." But MPs failed to obtain any admission from Mr Coulson or other executives from the News of the World giving evidence today that illegal activities were condoned or widespread.
Mr Coulson described former royal editor Clive Goodman as "a rogue reporter" who acted alone when he paid a private investigator to help him access phone messages belonging to members of the royal household.
"During that time I neither condoned the use of phone-hacking and nor do I have any recollection of instances when phone-hacking took place," he said.
He admitted he knew about a £100,000-a-year contract given to Glen Mulcaire, the private eye who aided the illegal hacking operation, but said the payments were entirely for legitimate help to the newspaper.
Asked why Mulcaire was given at least one contract under an alias, News International legal manager Tom Crone admitted that seemed "unusual".
He claimed it was to prevent Mulcaire's name being linked to a particular story.
But MPs were openly sceptical that the newspaper's top brass did not know that thousands of pounds had been spent by Goodman on procuring illegal activities.
Mr Coulson said he approved vast sums on stories and Goodman's cash payments did not cross his desk.
"I wasn't able to micro-manage every story and nor did I attempt to," he said.
The £100,000 to Mulcaire "did not stand out" while the extra payments were "unknown to me and concealed from the managing editor". The committee failed to get a clear answer to their question of whether any payments were made to Goodman or Mulcaire after they were fired.
The Guardian has claimed other senior journalists were involved and thousands of public figures were targeted.
Current editor Colin Myler said he had brought in new ethical safeguards and slashed the amount of money given in cash payments by 84 per cent.
"At no stage did the police arrest or question any member of the News of the World staff besides Mr Goodman," he added.
Reader views (3)
that doesn't bode well for the tories then, if things went badly wrong on his watch on a newspaper; what can we expect under his critical eye when his guvnor is running the country?
oh lordy me, what is a poor boy to do now?
- M.O'Brien, london.uk, 21/07/2009 17:06
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Great to see good old socialist Steve has an open mind.Does he work for the Guardian or is it Steve AKA Damien??? What an example of analysis and thought out comment.
- Fedupwith Morons, london, 21/07/2009 16:58
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Sounds like an admission of guilt to me. Same old Tories, same old sleaze.
- Steve S, London, 21/07/2009 15:06
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