Andy Coulson: The phone-hacking scandal won't go away - The Guardian

Why did Andy Coulson resign as Downing Street director of communications last week? The reason cited in his official statement was "continued coverage of events" connected to his previous job as editor of the News of the World, which is another way of saying that the past had caught up with him.

To recap: Mr Coulson stepped down from the Sunday tabloid in 2007 after a member of his staff was jailed, along with a private investigator, for illegally hacking into the voicemail messages of members of the royal household. He denied any knowledge of the practice and insisted it was the work of a single "rogue reporter".

Months later, Mr Coulson joined David Cameron's staff, playing a crucial role in the Conservative party's journey from opposition to government. When questioned about the reputation of such a vital aide, Mr Cameron dismissed the old allegations. "Everyone deserves a second chance," the prime minister said. Last week, Mr Cameron struck a similarly forgiving tone, lamenting that his erstwhile communications chief had "been punished for the same offence twice". The implication is that the no further repercussions need follow The phone-hacking case, as far as the prime minister is concerned, is closed.

But to anyone who examines the facts, the case remains very much open. Many public figures named in the notes of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the heart of the scandal, are pursuing private legal action against the News of the World. At least two cases have been settled with large cash sums. Mr Mulcaire is fighting a separate battle to avoid being forced to disclose who commissioned his snooping. There have been suggestions, as yet unsubstantiated, that his hefty legal costs are being met by News International.

The company has certainly shown readiness to buy the silence of phone-hacking victims, a practice which sits awkwardly with its stated intention to expose journalistic malpractice. An internal investigation is under way and one senior editor was suspended last month. But Mr Mulcaire's notes, details of which have been legally prised from the clenched fist of unco-operative police, are thought to implicate others. Indeed, the Metropolitan Police's conduct in the affair is a scandal all on its own. The force failed to pursue leads and made no effort to test senior News of the World staff's rosy accounts of their own conduct. And yet, all the while, the Met had in its possession the evidence that has subsequently proved so damaging to the newspaper. Such a lackadaisical approach to law enforcement is either incompetent or corrupt.

The "lone rogue" defence has unravelled. News International and its parent company, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, appear to be recalibrating their position accordingly. Mr Murdoch says he is determined to "vigorously pursue the truth", but it has taken News Corp three years just to recognise that there is a hidden truth to be pursued. When did executives decide that the official line from 2007 wouldn't hold? That line, now defunct, was Andy Coulson's alibi and, by extension, David Cameron's justification for giving his media chief a "second chance". News Corp's shifting position leaves the prime minister looking exposed and foolish. Did he not consider the likelihood that more journalists under Mr Coulson's command were complicit in illegal activity? Did he care?

The scandal has rumbled on for long enough that it is easy to forget the nature of the original offences. Intercepting private voicemail messages is illegal for a reason. It is a trespass on personal lives that is disturbing to those who experience it. The allegation that hangs over the News of the World is that this was inflicted on thousands of people, from film stars to footballers to cabinet ministers. That would mean Andy Coulson presided – wittingly or not – over a journalistic Stasi, snooping around unrestrained through the private lives of public figures.

It is an image that News International has failed to dispel, which is problematic since Mr Murdoch is in the midst of a campaign to extend his reach in the UK. News Corp wants to buy out the 61% shareholding it does not already own in BSkyB. The deal would enable new cross-subsidies between different parts of the empire, substantially boosting its power in the UK media market.

Late last year, the communications regulator Ofcom passed a report on the buyout to culture secretary Jeremy Hunt. It is widely believed to have recommended referral to the Competition Commission. That left Mr Hunt with two clear options – heed the advice or ignore it and approve the deal. Inexplicably, he has done neither. Officials from his department and News Corp representatives have met in private. In public, ideas have been floated as to how the deal might be altered to avoid more regulatory intervention.

Opaque lobbying is News Corp's preferred style of business. Rupert Murdoch was one of the first visitors to Downing Street after Mr Cameron's election, but he was careful to pass discreetly through the back door. Mr Cameron has also privately met James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, News International chief executive. He visited the latter, who lives in his Oxfordshire constituency, over Christmas.

There needn't be anything sinister to these encounters. Politicians and media executives operate in the same milieu and are allowed to mix socially. But Mr Cameron needs to be careful. He is an intelligent man with shrewd political judgment, so he ought to be alert to how these relationships look from the outside: they have the whiff of a cosy power oligarchy that values commercial and political favours above constitutional propriety.

Here is a global media conglomerate, run by a man who is not a UK citizen, wielding extraordinary influence over the affairs of the country and able to summon private audiences with senior government figures at will. One part of the empire stands accused of operating and then covering up habits of systematic criminal activity and calling it journalism. The man who was in charge at the time stood down last week as Mr Cameron's chief media aide. Having surrendered Mr Coulson, the prime minister now clearly thinks the whole business should just go away. It shouldn't and it won't.