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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The election victory of Rory Stewart, over Julian Lewis by 14 votes for the chairmanship of the Commons defence committee had all the hallmarks of a well orchestrated Conservative Establishment manoeuvre. The full result is here.
It meant that one Old Etonian replaced another. James Arbuthnot, as Tory chair of the defence committee, stood down. Rory Stewart. replaced him. It also blocked a troublesome Tory who helped humiliate Cameron by stopping him arming the rebels in Syria, which could have let jihadists obtaining chemical weapons.
The voting – using the single transferable vote- among the most sophisticated electorate in the country – allowed loyalist Tories two stabs at the post.
The first choice was probably ” safe pair of hands” Keith Simpson, Mp for Broadland, but when it became clear that Lewis had garnered enough support from Labour to overtake Simpson.they had another figure up their sleeve, Rory Stewart.
Stewart, who had military experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been a tutor to Princes William and Harry and is regarded as a rising star. He attended recently along with George Osborne the influential Bilderberg Group. And significantly a very busy Chancellor took time out yesterday to vote. David Cameron himself did not have time.
Lewis who has encyclopaedic knowledge of defence matters might not be so good as Rory as a TV presenter but he would have been trouble.It will be very interesting to see how Rory handles the chairmanship of the committee and whether he makes waves or even wants to make waves.
One fascinating fact: We have a new chair of defence who has tabled only one question on defence to the government in the last year. He’ll have to ask a lot more now to make an impact.
Industrial scale hacking of the Royals laid bare by Clive Goodman -even on Christmas Day. No wonder Andy Coulson doesn’t want to know!
Day 103, Part 2:
Current members of the Royal Family including Prince William were hacked almost every day by the News of the World, the phone hacking trial heard yesterday.
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Ah, so it is all Clive Goodman’s fault for not telling Andy Coulson about how much phone hacking he did! At least that’s what Coulson’s legal team want the court to know.
Day 103, Part 1:
Former News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman is not owning up to the full scale of his phone hacking at the paper, Andy Coulson’s legal team claimed at the phone hacking trial 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.
Prosecutor doesn’t buy Brooks’ claim that she had no idea big cash payments for military exclusives were coming from well connected Ministry of Defence official. Hardly from ” someone in a pub in Aldershot” says Andrew Edis.
Day 102, Part 2: Rebekah Brooks would have had to have been a “complete fool” not to suspect that a Sun journalist’s “No 1 military contact” was a public official, prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told the phone hacking trial yesterday.
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Savage criticism of Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie attempts to hide evidence from the police. Prosecutor Andrew Edis in his closing address says she was trying to keep her job as the hacking inquiry escalated.
Day 102, Part 1: Rebekah Brooks was trying to save her job when she hatched a plan to hide her notebooks from detectives at the peak of the phone hacking scandal in July 2011, the Old Bailey heard today.
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Andrew Edis vigorously pursues his case that there has been a cover up at the top of the News of the World
Day 101, Part 2: It seemed the “first instinct” of News of the World executives after the arrest of phone hacking royal editor Clive Goodman and private detective Glenn Mulcaire was to launch a cover-up, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.
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Westminster Confidential 