What did Cameron know?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

In a statement this morning, Ed Miliband has ramped up the pressure on the Prime Minister over phone hacking and his decision to employ Andy Coulson. Miliband spoke today about the range of issues that need to be tackled in the wake of last week’s revelations – most notably the future of teh BSkyB takeover and press reform. But it was his comments on Cameron and Coulson that were most interesting. Again, Miliband has shown an ability to move this story on. The question is, what did Cameron know about Coulson’s past before he hired him? Miliband said earlier:

“it is imperative that David Cameron now comes clean on the increasing number of questions surrounding his appointment of Andy Coulson. On Friday at his press conference, David Cameron said and I quote “no one gave me any specific information” which might have dissuaded him from appointing Andy Coulson. Yet the Guardian newspaper says it had discussions with Steve Hilton, his senior aide, detailing the facts about Andy Coulson’s decision to rehire Jonathan Rees, a convicted criminal.

According to The Guardian, these included the fact that Rees had been jailed for seven years for a criminal conspiracy, after which he had been rehired by Coulson’s News of the World. And the fact that Rees’s illegal activities on behalf of the News of the World included making payments to police. This information was passed by Steve Hilton to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Ed Llewellyn. You cannot get more specific information than this.

The Prime Minister must now explain. Did Ed Llewellyn tell him about this evidence and did he ignore it? Or did Mr Llewellyn fail to tell him about this? Either people have been misled about what Mr Cameron knew or Mr Llewellyn has completely failed in his duties. Mr Cameron must now answer these and other questions including the warnings he apparently received from Paddy Ashdown and Nick Clegg.

Unless he can explain what happened with Mr Coulson and apologise for his terrible error in appointing him, his reputation and that of his government will be permanently tarnished. I say this finally: The Prime Minister made an important statement at a press conference on Friday. It is duty to also come to the House of Commons and explain himself. People expect him to start showing the leadership on this issue that has been so completely lacking so far.”