Cameron's stain on Downing Street - Andy Coulson!

Any self-respecting Conservative Party voter should look at the output of any typical edition of the scandal sheet that appeared every sunday in Britain between 2003 and 2007 under the title News of the World, as edited by Andy Coulson and ponder what moral compass could be possessed by a Prime Minister who would appoint such a man as Head of Communications at Number 10 Downing Street, the publicly owned property assigned for the use of the nation's presiding political leader. Doubts about the judgement of William Hague, (effectively Conservative Deputy Leader to Cameron, who the Independent on Sunday, this morning reports, pushed the candidacy of this individual to the latter) now abound and seem only answerable by his resignation, yet the decision to take the already somewhat shop-soiled Coulson on board at Downing Street, was Cameron's alone, continuing the close role he enjoyed during the Tory election campaign (in which, tellingly, the country declined to give the no-mark Cameron a majority) thus contnuing the tradition of such unscrupulous media manipulators at the centre of government, begun under the serial liar Blair with Alistair Campbell. The New York Times, on page MM30 of its Sunday Magazine this morning has a pretty full disclosure of the phone bugging scandal at the News of the World which was carried on during Coulson's rule as editor. The report, running to eight pages, may be read online from this link. Quoted below is a small extract from Page 2 of the article: "... interviews with more than a dozen former reporters and editors at News of the World present a different picture of the newsroom. They described a frantic, sometimes degrading atmosphere in which some reporters openly pursued hacking or other improper tactics to satisfy demanding editors. Andy Coulson, the top editor at the time, had imposed a hypercompetitive ethos, even by tabloid standards. One former reporter called it a “do whatever it takes” mentality. The reporter was one of two people who said Coulson was present during discussions about phone hacking. Coulson ultimately resigned but denied any knowledge of hacking." David Cameron, fond of being snapped breathing germs only millimetres from the faces of his various offspring, is in reality a hard nosed political opportunist, who (as this blog has repeatedly raised in various postings) has already sold out the main firm commitment from the Conservative manifesto remaining in the Coalition Agreement, namely not to surrender further British Sovereignty to the EU, having done just that on 17th June at the EU Council. Liberal Democrats not wishing to now become tarred by the same brush of sleaze, half-truths and downright untruths which the Downing Street media manipulation machine has become over recent years should quickly re-examine the backgrounds and lack of integrity and judgement that seems to be the rule among the leadership of their coalition partners as Parliament re-convenes after its long break during the past crisis ridden summer. Does the country really wish the connotation of 10 Downing Street to be set by former News of the World editor Andy Coulson? If so many former Tory Prime Ministers must now be turning in their graves.