Politicians, the press and the police

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So Nick and the ZaNuLabour young veterans who have been all over this today.

Yeats of the Yard YES Yeats of the Yard says basically that the Guardians story and this blog are wrong.

The fat controller was not tapped he carefully investigate and the number of hackings reported by the paper are untrue.

So the smearing of Cameron can stop, McPoison was guilty just get used to it.

What has become clear is the desperation of the ZaNuLabour party and their alleys.
It also proof of Nicks readiness to follow the Mandy line before the facts of proved.
I dont expect that there will be an apology the people involved are just not big enough.

Politicians or
Journalists. The danger is
In unequal arms.

Nick, for the love of God, this story is not about Couslson, lol!

Will someone else chip and and tell Nock why he is totally missing the significance of this story.

Nick

politically inspired protests designed to damage the Conservatives

Seems to me this is the story. Except for the behaviour of the media whipped up by the ZaNuLabour spin machine.

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mr robinson, you really are clutching at straws now arent you!

having witnessed your 6pm news "opinion" of what cameron and coulson "think" you now advance this in your blog.

hows about you ask more pertinant questions, such as:
why are labour MPs so keen to reopen the inquiry?
why prescott and mandelson have been given so much news time today, to express their "opinions" (and i use that term loosely) regarding an issue that they know absolutely nothing about? (not to mention how they got caught out doing the wrong thing and tried to cover it up!)

even brown took the time to comment on this non story, from his important g8 summit, its beginning to smell more like a labour spin campaign than a factual based news story.

do labour MPs believe they are more important than the police? the police say there is nothing to investigate and no new evidence has been produced.
the message to the guardian and labour MPs is clear... put up or shut up!

The statement by Yates, that no new evidence has been put forward, that evidence thoroughly investigated at the time did not show wide scale tapping, and that there was not sufficient evidence for further investigation, not only justifies Cameron's statement this morning, but calls into question the competence of those that have called for Coulson to be sacked, or suggested that it raises questions of Cameron's judgement.

Sacked for what?

Those people must now put up, or apologise.

It appears that, in the absence of substantiated claims to the contrary, that Coulson took an honourable decision at the time. Whilst he was not aware of what had happened, he took responsibility, and resigned.

Did Brown do that when McBride was responsible for the smear campaign in the PM's office - no. He claimed he knew nothing about it, and stayed in his job.

The real story that has emerged today is one of attempted smears on Cameron, the demolition of another mans career, and all based on an unsubstantiated newspaper story - it shows that certain politicians are rather trigger happy.

I hope the BBC ensure that this story gets as much publicity as the Coulson one!

Not only into this affair should there be an inquiry but that of Baby P
and many many others as well.

People have been arrested jsut for handing out leaflets in a public space , that have been oked by a judge.

But phone taping by the press and no charges yet huge compo payout.

Think the police have a lot of issues to answer other wise
the concept of policing by concent by the public is going to end on a bonfire.

Maybe along with the BBC's alledged impartial reporting

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I have little time for most of the press bias; it has always been prejudicial and judgemental and played on closed minds. Balance being the last consideration and the truth never to be allowed to get in the way of a good story

High in this policy has always been the News of the World and its ilk, the old tabloids but the Guardian has now sunk lower than low in pursuit of its horrendous bias which has always distinguished it as the most unbalanced and prejudiced paper in the old broadsheets.

These men have been investigated by the yard they have faced a jury and served their sentences and unless the Guardian has firm indefatigable evidence that the course of justice has been perverted they should face the full rigour of the law themselves

When we have such a corrupt socialist government giving taxpayers money to the wealthiest bankers in the world and putting the honest working man woman and child into long term poverty and depravation using their own money then creating a smoke screen to the real debate on how deplorably we have been served for the last 12 years is as reprehensible as it gets within the most reprehensible of professions bar the oldest.

The recent event of politics had placed bankers politicians below the level of journalists the Guardian have just shifted them back to the bottom

Come on journalist time to grow up the public no what you are up to and deserve better rest assured the time is coming when they will get it.

We need the comprehensive figures of where we are where we have been and where we are going. All we have is a statistics office that tells nothing of the truth because every department massages every figure delays it or mismatches time periods and or areas get onto some real journalism or get out.

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I hope that this whitewash is not connected with an email I sent this morning to a cross-party representation of the HOC about surprising monitoring of my PC with rather close links to Sky Sports, the Sun and the Daily Mail.

Perish the thought that FURTHER INFORMATION would lead to cases being dropped...........

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As anticipated, this smear started in the Labour Party in a desperate attempt to turn the tables after the McBride affair. Trouble is, the story did not have any legs and I would suspect the editor of the Guardian is now very cross with the source of this scurrilous attempt at muck raking.

Will there be apologies over this? There should be, but I won't be holding my breath.

Goodness me. Maybe the Met will take a longer look at whatever evidence the Guradian journalists have to back their story. I hope they do. If there is wrongdoing it has to be looked into.

The really big story is that Brown and the other G8 leaders have COMMITTED to stop global temperature rising by more than 2degrees...

Now that's what I call a great manifesto commitment. Nobody really knows how hot the earth is today, probably still won't agree in 20 years time. And all the politicians involved will have retired anyway.

Anybody know how to stop the sun itself getting hotter from time to time? Or bottle up the vulcanos. Thought not.

I just bet Brown will commit to rid the UK of gremlins and pixies before the end of the next parliament. "No more Tory gremlins and pixies..."

What a load of rubbish seen above, politically motivated to damage the Tories? One would think that spin is a one sided affair, don't you all get it Cameron is spinning so much over the last few weeks he has got dizzy, even the help of poor misunderstood Nick cannot save him from the centrifugal force.

Of course we can believe them when Cameron of the nu tories says "There is a world of difference between what he did as a tabloid editor and what he does for us." NOT, after all the good old Tories would never do anything underhand as only labour does, if you believe that you believe anything but there again Cameron has got some people believing in Santa Claus.

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More material for Armando Iannucci's satire.

Labour's Ann Clwyd, the MP for Cynon Valley, called for Coulson to be barred from parliament.

"Given Mr Coulson's dubious reputation, none of us on the Labour benches can feel comfortable while this man is allowed to wander the corridors here. Can't we, at the very least, while he is under suspicion, take his pass away from him?" Another Labour MP, Martin Salter ventured much the same.

I do wonder about these MPs. After the expenses scandal, I'd think twice about referring to "dubious reputations".

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Will there ever be a day when journalists kick Mandy (twice justly disgraced but still taken seriously by you media sheep) properly into the long grass and start to do some proper investigative work? This silly, probably fraudulent but venomous dirt from the NewSewer must stop - but still you give copious time to these liars that we have as an administration. Expose the NewGutterSnipe that started this and then properly destroy his or her reputation. I am heartily sick and tired of this sycophantic adherence to the party line. It is evil and dishonest. Do something properly for once.

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tom @ 24

Gosh, Mr Robinson, three posts in one day!! Must be a story which the Beeb can take the usual anti-Cameron line

er, excuse me ... he did 4 posts the other (yester?) day on Gordon's ten pee problems

Hello Sun

Could you please make sure that you don't shine so brightly down here on Earth as we have just decided at a recent 'jollie' that the temperature on Earth should not increase by 2 degrees.

I know that in the past we used to sacrifice virgins in the hope of controlling the weather but these are in short supply at the moment. However, we do have someone down here who goes by the name of Flash Gordon - will he do?

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Over the last few weeks there has been a very noticeable change in the Guardian's attitude towards the government and Brown in particular. A repositioning from their traditional pro-Labour stance.

Is this latest story or non-story the result of pressure being applied on them to return to their traditional ways?

Reading through all of the NOTW related articles with writers more-or-less all singing from the same sheet, one does get that impression.
If that is the case then the Guardian is no better than the NOTW.

'There are serious questions that have to be answered' is the response from clown smiling Brown at the G8. Why not 'There may be serious questions that have to be answered but I will not attempt to preempt the results of any investigations until they are concluded'. The man is positively relishing the prospect of placing his opponent in a bad light.

At first i was concerned that the Tories would be tainted by this,i am now wondering if its a none story and looked around for what else was happening...........lo and behold we find MP's second jobs are being published they wouldnt be trying to bury this away would they ???

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"politically inspired protests designed to damage the Conservatives"

This story looks like it going to form another text book case which typifies the depravity of Labour and its willing use of the smear.

When Labour are not smearing, they are casting false aspirations in parliament that the Tories would cut spending, compared to Labour's investment.

And when Labour are not using dubious tactics against the Tories, they use their dark arts on each other. Gordon was said to have psychological flaws, Mo Mowlem was said to have mental health issues and Tony Blair to have reneged on a fictitious Granita deal.

Never mind the illegal wars. Never mind Labour's failure to apologise for delivering the opposite of an end to boom and bust. Why do we have to put up with such a morally depraved Government????

The decent people of the Labour party should rise up and overthrow the corrupt cancer at the heart of this government.

The argument seems to be that Andy Coulson isn't a suitable person to be doing his current job, given that he had to resign from his previous one. Cameron's judgment in appointing him is thereby called into question.
Of course, one could equally wonder whether Peter Mandelson was a suitable person to be the UK's EU Commissioner after he had to resign from his two previous jobs. And question Blair's judgment in appointing him, not to mention Brown's in making him a peer and a minister.

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The (quite proper) quid pro quo for having an Executive which directly controls the Legislature through the Whips system, is that our press is more intrusive in ferreting out stories than other countries'. Long may newspapers continue their dark arts.

I think that there really is a story here. Just not one that is particularly party political. So many "stories" come from "sources" or "leaks" and I for one would not be at all surprised if they were often obtained illegally.

Here's the rub - When such a story unveils an issue that really should be in the public domain, MP's expenses, we applaud the leak. If the "leak" merely unveils an embarrassing story it is an invasion of privacy. Who should decide as to whether the hacking of email accounts or mobile phones is in the public interest or not. I certainly would not trust our politicians to do the right thing. As with many issues it is not a straight forward right and wrong matter.

Thanks, Nick but very little new information seems to have come to light.
The phone tap story was covered in depth last year in Nick Davies' excellent book 'Flat Earth News.'

IF, a big if, Labour were looking to hang on to Murdoch's coat tails a little longer, they just blew it big time. The next election will be, "It was; The Sun, The Times, Die Welt, The Sunday Times, The News of The World or even good old Rupe himself, what won it"!
The excited embrace by certain people and in particulr Nick Robinson and Alistair Campbell, (with The Shadowy Lord behind them), was sickening to see and recuperative to observe, crumble!

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There does seem to be a startling lack of facts and evidence at the basis of this so called story.

Never mind the politics, the press and police forming a bremuda triangle....

More like New Labour Press Office, the Guardian and the BBC.

Reputations have already been lost on this one !

It doesn't matter if Cameron stands by Coulson or not, he is damaged goods. Like me Dave being the PR man he is will at some point put some distance between them.

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The Grauniad must be miffed that its story turned out to be a damp squib.

Contrast this pathetic attempt with the Telegraph's devastating exposure of MP's expenses.

In the same way that the labour party couldn't organise a cabinet coup, its left-wing mouthpieces can't deliver a credible scoop.

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Amazing how the arch self publicist Prescott was so quickly available for media quotes this morning. He really must be gutted that the police have now said that he was not on the list for hacking his phone. I suppose that there haven't been any discussions between the Grauniad editor and the Labour Comms Director about this story as Gordon is obviously not making the headlines at the G20?

Prescott is just terrified that there is even more evidence out there that he was having sex on company time; when he was supposed to be doing a job for the country, he was doing a job on his secretary on the ministerial office furniture.

The disgraceful thing about this is that he is allowed to speak at all; we should review his conduct and stop his pension. Never mind about protecting his reputation, we should be examining his conduct in detail1

As for The Dark Lord High Everything...

AA

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If the "Bermuda Triangle" is in the process of the mother of all coverups, then Nick, you are right to kepp picking away at this sore...

Otherwise, this would seem to lend MORE not less moral fibre to David Cameron. In the face of unfounded allegations, smears if you will, he has stood up the barrage of left leaning coverage on the issue and backed his man.
All I have seen today is a lot of spineless ex-ministers and Labour flunkies parade themselves on TV, spitting mock fury based on nothing more than innuendo and flimsy "evidence".
This is yet another example of Labour wanting to pronounce someone guilty until they can prove their innocense. The sooner this lot are out of power the better.
These are the death throes of a dying government. Sad really.

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in the run up to the next election (can it come too soon?) we are going to have to suffer more and more of these smear stories as that is all the present government have to fight with.....

meanwhile in the real world, GB has committed us to not allow the climate to increase by more than 2°C by 2050... next time you are in number 10 nick can you ask Gordon the following...
1. what is the earth's temperature today?....if he does not know that then the 2°C promise is meaningless....
2. If by 2050 the temperature has exceeded 2°C what are the sanctions?
3. What measures is he intending to introduce to ensure a maximum of 2°C in 41 years time?
4. Exactly how much do these useless meetings cost in financial and environmental terms?

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Has tbe communication director of the conservative party organised this little astroturfing defence effort? or maybe Murdoch workers? Just throwing in my effort. Cant just sit back and laugh without adding my little contribution.

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66. At 8:59pm on 09 Jul 2009, dhwilkinson wrote:

Has tbe communication director of the conservative party organised this little astroturfing defence effort? or maybe Murdoch workers? Just throwing in my effort. Cant just sit back and laugh without adding my little contribution.
---
Phew - too subtle for me. If the author, or anybody else that understands what this means, could translate it for me, I would be most grateful.

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Alistair Campbell really looked and sounded like a has been on Channel 4 News. Desperately trying to keep a non story going.

Just when will he and the rest of them realise everyone's seen through them now and know fine well who started this story off.

Spin only works when it's fresh and new.

Mandelson and Campbell et al are 12 years of tired old hat.

Doesn't it show?

Have to say I only drift into these blogs intermitantly and find the need to comment even less frequently, however, it looks to me that with a few exceptions, most of the people on this thread fail to grasp the fact that the endless propaganda being peddled is being read exclusivly by the members of their own sad club.

Dearie me!!!!

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WarrierTess 30

There was never a story anyway, at least not a political one.

The only question political journalists should be asking is why is the Guardian recycling an old story now.

react @ 67

yes I was jesting, obviously I was! - ah well - but on a more serious note, there IS something particularly, I dunno ... offputting about the idea of a phone tap - I mean, can you imagine yapping away to your mother ... swapping recipes and stuff ... and having David Cameron (or some other politician) listening in? - 1984

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Sterling donefor, sorry ,beats me too.

Nick,

"This is a story fuelled by genuine outrage at abuses by the press and politically inspired protests designed to damage the Conservatives."

I found this sat with difficulty twixt the previous and following sentences .
Care to elaborate?

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statement from AC John Yates
I have been asked by the Commissioner today to establish the facts around our inquiry into the alleged unlawful tapping of mobile phones by Clive Goodman and Glen Mulcaire. I was not involved in the original case and clearly come at this with an independent mind.

Just by way of background. In December 2005, the Met received complaints that mobile phones had been illegally tapped.

We identified that Goodman and Mulcaire were engaged in a sophisticated and wide ranging conspiracy to gather private and personal data, principally about high profile figures. Clearly they benefited financially from these matters.

Our inquiries found that these two men had the ability to illegally intercept mobile phone voice mails, commonly known as phone tapping.

Their potential targets may have run into hundreds of people, but our inquiries showed that they only used the tactic against a far smaller number of individuals.

In January 2007, Goodman and Mulcaire were jailed for four and six months, guilty to conspiring to unlawfully intercept communications.

Mulcaire also pleaded guilty to an additional five charges relating to similar matters.

On sentencing the two men, Mr Justice Gross at the Old Bailey said the case was "not about press freedom, it was about a grave, inexcusable and illegal invasion of privacy."

The police investigation was complex and was carried out in close liaison with the Crown Prosecution Service, Senior Counsel and the telephone companies concerned.

The technical challenges posed to the service providers to establish that there had in fact been interception were very, very, significant.

It is important to recognise that our enquiries showed that in the vast majority of cases there was insufficient evidence to show that tapping had actually been achieved.

Where there was clear evidence that people had been the subject of tapping, they were all contacted by the police.

These people were made aware of the potential compromise to their phones and offered preventative advice.

After extensive consultation with the CPS and Counsel, only a few were subsequently identified as witnesses in the proceedings that followed.

I said earlier in this statement that these two men were engaged in a sophisticated and wide ranging conspiracy to gather personal data about high profile figures. One was a private detective and one was a journalist. It is reasonable therefore to expect them to be in possession of data about such matters as it's part and parcel of their job.

I emphasise that our enquiries were solely concerned with phone tapping. This, as far as we are aware, affected a much smaller pool of people.

There has been a lot of media comment today about the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. This investigation has not uncovered any evidence to suggest that John Prescott's phone had been tapped.

This case has been subject of the most careful investigation by very experienced detectives. It has also been scrutinised in detail by both the CPS and leading Counsel. They have carefully examined all the evidence and prepared the indictments that they considered appropriate.

No additional evidence has come to light since this case has concluded.

I therefore consider that no further investigation is required.

However, I do recognise the very real concerns, expressed today by a number of people, who believe that their privacy may have been intruded upon.

I therefore need to ensure that we have been diligent, reasonable and sensible, and taken all proper steps to ensure that where we have evidence that people have been the subject of any form of phone tapping, or that there is any suspicion that they might have been, that they have been informed.
Posted by The Editor at 20:01 Labels: MPS STATEMENT, News, plod, Politics

The Tory press and the Tory Press Barons like Rupert Murdock are attempting to hound Labour out of office.
Its an orchestrated move on many fronts; consider Tory Shadow Minster Damian Green, who received leaked information from a Home Office civil servant and party member and another Tory party activist responsible for stealing the Commons MPs expenses disk that resulted in the expense scandal.

So much for David Cameron's promises of openness and transparency its just a Big Con.

As democracy sweeps slowly around the world, ours could be slipping away.

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it does not appear that coulson was implicated at all in this or any other crime, and as editor resigned as this was done on his watch, something sadly no longer reconised as being the honorable thing to do. although i would have thought mandleson would have some sympathy, being forced to resign twice. as for damaging cameron i think this will have the opposite effect, clear precise, and prepared to stand by a collegue that evidently has done no wrong.

graham009 82

"another Tory party activist responsible for stealing the Commons MPs expenses disk that resulted in the expense scandal"

You might like to try to substantiate that one - it is contrary to all the evidence.

No 76 Saga

I agree it is a little unsettling to think that the powers that be may be aware that I will be going out for a drink tomorrow with three of my friends and may be, we will go out for a curry afterwards. Why they would want to know, I have no idea.

On a serious point. As I posted earlier, when is a tap in the public interest and who should decide that it is? If it is, who decides that it should be in the public domain?

So, John Prescott will not answer legitimate questions posed by his local newspaper regarding expenses, but finds most of the day available to bemoan the bismirching of his human rights to privacy.

This from a man whose friend and boss employed a spin docter to smear opposition politicians wives.

The only word is hypocrite. John, climb back into your comfortable second home and prepare for Lordship.

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"graham009 wrote:
The Tory press and the Tory Press Barons like Rupert Murdock are attempting to hound Labour out of office."

Tory press barons like Ruper Murdock? Would that be the same Rupert Murdock who publicly backed Labour in the last three elections?

Murdock is only trying to side with the Tories now because he has seen which way the wind is blowing. If Labour were still riding high in the polls he would still be supporting them.

"Its an orchestrated move on many fronts; consider Tory Shadow Minster Damian Green, who received leaked information from a Home Office civil servant and party member and another Tory party activist responsible for stealing the Commons MPs expenses disk that resulted in the expense scandal."

Are you trying to imply that parties who use leaked information are somehow unfit for government? Are you aware that Labour relied heavily on leaks during the last Tory Government? And a certain Gordon Brown helped make his name as a result of leaks - I wonder what happened to him?

"So much for David Cameron's promises of openness and transparency its just a Big Con.

As democracy sweeps slowly around the world, ours could be slipping away."

So it is more open and transparent that government failings are kept away from the voters? Every party when they are in opposition will benefit from leaks. The leaking of information that the government doesn't want released that actually helps democracy - it shines a bright light on what the government want to keep hidden.

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Blimey, Mandy and Broon must be really scared of this guy to throw all this at it.

It's just a shame that the public are a bit more grown up and bored of smear campaigns and hyped up nonsense!

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Nick,

As stated by the Metropolitan Police, no additional evidence has been found, and - in my opinion - this is a non-story that is being used to smear the Conservative party.

However, how should we judge Mr Coulson? Mr Coulson did not commit these acts. The individual who committed the act was a reporter, Clive Goodman, and an investigator utilised by the reporter. If the left-wing media attempt to hold Mr Coulson at fault for the actions of his underling, then if they have any shred of professional ethics remaining, they should hold Gordon Brown to an equal standard for the actions of Gordon's underling Damian McBride, and Derek Draper, the "journalist" McBride was going to utilise to libel Tory MPs. If you call on Cameron to sack Coulson, then you should call on the Labour party to sack Brown.

The media let Brown off the hook for the actions of his underling, but appear determined to lynch Coulson for the actions of his underling. This appears to be another example of the usual left-wing double standards and hypocrisy.

I thought that the BBC had a duty to political balance. It appears I was mistaken, and the BBC is following the Guardian and reporting smears not news. Hold Brown equally responsible with Coulson! Be a journalist, not a stooge!

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