Sheridan on trial – but it's Coulson in the dock
Jonathan Brown sees former News of the World editor defend himself against accusations of complicity in phone-hacking
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Shortly after 2.30pm yesterday it was the turn of defence witness 21 to swear the oath at Glasgow High Court in the perjury trail of Tommy Sheridan.
After a morning spent embroiled in the minutiae of the internal procedures of the executive committee of the Scottish Socialist Party, for the jury, the packed press benches and dozens of members of the public who have sat through all 38 days of evidence so far, there emerged into the witness stand a visitor from the lofty world of Westminster power politics.
Dressed in a grey suit and navy blue tie, Andrew Edward Coulson, 42, was asked twice to confirm his position as director of communications at Downing Street. Over the next 45 minutes he faced a volley of questions from the former socialist firebrand who is representing himself in the proceedings.
The Prime Minister's key aide was asked to explain his relationship with proprietor Rupert Murdoch and then deny allegations that he was a bully who oversaw a culture of criminality and phone-tapping whilst editor of the News of the World. In a series of exchanges which required repeated intervention from the trial judge, Lord Bracadale, Mr Coulson was quizzed over his decision to stand down from the newspaper after the conviction of royal editor Clive Goodman, who was jailed along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in 2007 for phone hacking members of the royal household and other celebrities.
Mr Coulson said he only became aware of Mulcaire after he was arrested. "I didn't know him as an individual, never dealt with him, never emailed him, didn't know his name," he said. But Mr Coulson said Mulcaire's company, Nine Consultancy, was retained by the newspaper as a "legitimate contractor" and agreed that it had been receiving "around £105,000" in payments while he was editor.
In the first of two days of evidence, he described his current job at Downing Street as "overseeing all communication functions – press, broadcast and events" confirming that he was accountable to the Prime Minister. He added: "I'm not sure I would describe it as powerful but it is important."
Asked what sort of boss he was while at the News of the World, Mr Coulson denied that he "micromanaged" the operation at the red-top, instead allowing department heads to make decisions over "contractors".
"I like to think I was reasonably professional and did my job competently," he said. Asked if he created a "regime of fear" at the newspaper, Mr Coulson answered: "Certainly not." Asked by Mr Sheridan if he printed lies in his newspaper, he again replied: "Certainly not."
Mr Coulson was also challenged over an employment tribunal in which the sports reporter Matt Driscoll was awarded £800,000 – a sum the former editor described as "astonishing". He said: "I am not a bully. I was not a bully." Mr Coulson was editor of the News of the World between 2003 and 2007, during which time the Scottish edition of the paper alleged that Mr Sheridan had visited a sex club and committed adultery. The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant successfully sued the newspaper in 2006, winning £200,000 in damages, but he and his wife, Gail, were later arrested after a police investigation and charged with lying under oath at the defamation trial. Both the Sheridans deny the charges.
Mr Coulson said that during his time in charge of the paper he reported to News International chief executive Les Hinton, but that he spoke regularly to proprietor Rupert Murdoch. Asked what kind of relationship he had with Mr Murdoch, he said: "I was his employee. I was one of his editors. I spoke to him from time to time, mostly about politics."
Asked by Mr Sheridan whether Mr Murdoch "had been expecting anything" when he got the job at Downing Street, Mr Coulson replied: "Certainly not." Mr Sheridan added that Mr Murdoch was one of the first visitors to Downing Street after the last election, to which the judge said: "I don't see the relevance of this at all. Move on." Mr Coulson was also questioned over evidence he gave to a House of Commons select committee inquiry in 2009 into phone hacking, which, Mr Sheridan said, concluded that the News of the World "at best turned a blind eye to illegal activities such as phone hacking and blagging and at worst actively condoned them".
The Downing Street aide replied: "I don't accept there was a culture of phone hacking at the News of the World. There was a very unfortunate case – this is to put it mildly – involving Clive Goodman. No one was more sorry than me. That was why I resigned." He said instructions to News of the World reporters were clear: "To work within the law and the PCC code of conduct. It was in their (staff) handbook."
He agreed with Mr Sheridan that he had faced several calls for his resignation. "Most of those calls... have come from the Labour Party or newspapers which have a degree of support for the Labour Party," he said.
The trial continues.