News International’s top security man was just caught up in the phone hacking scandal, an honest man who knew nothing about it, says his lawyer.
Day 114, Part 2: Mark Hanna, News International’s security chief, did nothing more than pick up some property from Rebekah Brooks’ husband Charlie and arrange its return the following day, his lawyer told the phone hacking trial today.
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Charlie Brooks- just a loving husband not a criminal hiding a phone hacking scandal, his lawyer
Day 114, Part 1: Charlie Brooks is a loving husband who enjoys a few drinks down the pub and makes “stupid” decisions, rather than the mastermind of a criminal conspiracy, his lawyer told London’s Central Criminal Court today.
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England’s private ambulance services need some tough discipline as companies – from bus firms like Arriva to parking firms like NSL ( formerly National Car Parks) rush to make profits providing patient transport.
A report I have written for Tribune magazine this week reveals that already 50 per cent of patient journeys to care homes and hospitals are provided by the private sector and they are already eyeing up taking over 999 ambulance services, Such is the pace of privatisation under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition.
The standards provided by some of the companies – as earlier blogs, including one from personal; experience reveal,- is little short of cruel and appalling. I will be returning in future blogs to expose other bad firms who show little care for elderly and disabled people except to swell their bosses’s salaries.
However there is some good news. The Care Quality Commission – whose job it is to monitor hospitals, care homes and ambulance services – is planning to up its game. It is reviewing its entire inspection system of both private and public ambulance services – for both patient transport and emergency responses.
The decision is contained in a report from the CQC which reveals that Sir Michael Richards, chief hospitals inspector, has decided that this rather neglected side of the business deserves revamping. The report also discloses – as the CQC is the main registration for ambulance services that already 50 per cent of patient transport journeys are carried out by private firms.
Sir Michael ought to have done this sooner – he should know from, some of his own CQC inspections that some private firms were failing in the most basic way – like not bothering to check the criminal records of staff carrying vulnerable patients or whether they had proper training.
He is making big promises He says: “Over the next three years we will develop a ratings system for most providers of health and social care.
“Our ratings will develop to become the single, authoritative assessment of the quality and safety provided by an organisation. They will be primarily based on the judgements of our inspectors about whether services are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led, but will also take into account all the information we hold about a service and the findings of others.”
Fine words, he better keep them. Unions like Unite and Unison are already warning about the deterioration of services and some of the people who have contacted me on this website have related appalling experiences. The only private firm that contacted me wanted the information I reported about a bad inspection of their company by the CGC removed from the internet. It shows you where they are coming from. Vigilance of these firms is going to be essential.
So the powerful Rebekah Brooks has been a victim herself- subject to a misogynist witch hunt according to her defence lawyer,Jonathan Laidlaw
Day 108: Rebekah Brooks is the victim of a “witch-hunt” by the prosecuting authorities, her lawyer said today.
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More embarrassing revelations from Clive Goodman
Day 105, Part 2: Police security plans for Princess Diana’s former home were found at the home of a News of the World reporter when he was arrested by detectives for phone hacking, the Old Bailey heard today.
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Wow! Goodman puts the boot in on the news of the world and phone hacking and by implication Andy Coulson
Day 105, Part 1: News International meddled in the original prosecution of Clive Goodman so that it could dodge the truth about the phone hacking, he claimed at the Old Bailey today.
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More insight into Andy Coulson from Clive Goodman over a Royal trip with Prince Charles.
Day 104: Andy Coulson kicked a desk when he found out his royal editor did not want to accompany Prince Charles on a visit to the United States, the Old Bailey was told today.
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A contender getting conviction politicians from Left and Right
While the nation ponders on whether to vote ( or not !) in this month’s European and local elections, an extraordinary unreported by-election is taking place in the House of Commons among MPs.
Up for grabs is the.chairmanship of the House of Commons defence committee, a rather important post as the winner will be responsible for scrutinising the policies and spending of the huge behemoth that is the Ministry of Defence.
The post -because of the division of the spoils for this Parliament – can only be held by a Tory. But the successful candidate has to get the backing of at least five Labour or other non Tory MPs to be able to stand.
The election has turned out to be closely fought with no fewer than eight Tories contesting the post and having to find sponsors from other parties. It was caused by the decision of the present chairman, James Arbuthnot, who is leaving Parliament at the election,to stand down. The MP is an Old Etonian and a direct descendent from King James IV of Scotland.
So far five of his eight potential successors have declared their backers on the Parliamentary order paper producing some breathtaking alliances that defy normal political gravity.
The most extraordinary is the backing for Julian Lewis, a right-winger,life long opponent of CND and in his youth scourge of the Labour left.
His backers to get the job include former anti- apartheid campaigner and former Labour Cabinet minister, Peter Hain; Labour loyalist and former cabinet minister, Hazel Blears, and John McDonnell, the hard line left-wing MP for Hillingdon, who tried unsuccessfully to challenge Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership. His other two big supporters are veteran Labour minister, Sir Gerald Kaufmann and Valerie Vaz, sister of Keith Vaz, the home affairs committee chairman.
They have combined with believe it or not, Liam Fox, the former Tory defence secretary and nearest to a neo-con plus former defence minister Sir Gerald Howarth, former immigration minister, Mark Harper, and Tory backbench MPs from the “awkward squad” including Peter Bone, Mp for Wellingborough, and Charles Walker, MP for Broxbourne. He has the support of Jonathan Evans, chairman of the Conservative Mainstream group, on the left of the party.
Lewis, the Tory MP for New Forest East, has won high level Labour support because he rebelled against the Coalition’s plan to arm the rebels against President Assad in Syria to prevent Assad’s chemical weapons arsenal getting into the hands of jihadists. The rebellion led to humiliation for David Cameron when the government was defeated in Parliament. He also voted against the tripling of tuition fees and against the privatisation of the nation’s forests.
Mr Lewis said yesterday:“ I am very pleased to have the support of conviction politicians on both the Left and the Right who want an independent minded chairman to hold the ministry to account.”
Crispin Blunt: getting strong support from left and right
Another favourite for the job is Bob Stewart, Conservative MP for Beckenham , a former army officer and a UN commander in Bosnia. He has backing from ex Tory fire minister, Bob Neill, Tory backbenchers Robert Halfon and Stewart Jackson. Ex Labour junior ministers, Sir Alan Meale and Jim Dowd are backing him.
The other candidates whose backers have declared are Julian Brazier, Tory MP for Canterbury, James Gray, Tory MP for North Wiltshire , Rory Stewart, Tory MP for Penrith and the Border;Keith Simpson, Tory Mp for Broadland and Tobias Ellwood, Conservative Mp for Bournemouth, East.
Downing Street and the Tory whips while not expressing any opinion are thought to favour Rory Stewart ( another Old Etonian) or Keith Simpson, as “a safe pair of hands”.
What they don’t want is some strong-minded MP that will make waves for an embattled coalition. This makes this election all the more interesting.
So Dan Evans was wrong when he said he played the hacked voicemail from Sienna Miller’s phone says Andy Coulson who can’t remember anything else that happened.
Day 98, Part 1: Andy Coulson today denied hearing a voicemail that had been hacked from Sienna Miller’s phone by one of his reporters, Dan Evans.
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So Coulson’s jibe “Do his phone” is an instruction to check whether his mate Rav Singh was leaking News of the World stories to other papers.
Day 93, Part 2: Andy Coulson’s instruction “Do his phone” was not an instruction to hack a phone, he told the Old Bailey today.The former tabloid editor said that instead he was requesting a check of a reporter’s phone data to see if he was leaking the News of the World’s stories to rivals.
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Westminster Confidential 