Tory spin doctor quits over phone-hacking scandal

David Cameron suffered the loss of his most senior aide Andy Coulson resigned to protect the Prime Minister from any fallout from the News of the World phone hacking scandal. After months of mounting pressure over his previous job editing the Sunday tabloid, Mr Coulson decided that his position as Mr Cameron’s communications chief was no longer tenable.

“When the spokesman needs a spokesman it’s time to move on,” Mr Coulson said in his resignation statement.

Downing Street sources said that Mr Coulson was leaving to ensure that Mr Cameron did not become tarnished by the drip-drip of any future allegations.

“Andy has been embarrassed by it. He’s had enough,” a colleague said.

His departure is the most serious blow to No 10 since the coalition came to power. Mr Coulson was credited with sharpening the Conservative message and adding a streetwise edge after his surprise hiring in 2007.

In Downing Street, he has presided over a merged Tory-Lib Dem team that won plaudits this week for its measured approach to communications from Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former press secretary.

But Mr Coulson’s effectiveness was hampered by persistent claims of widespread hacking of celebrities’ and politicians’ telephone messages during his five-year stint as Editor of the News of the World.

This month the Crown Prosecution Service ordered a comprehensive review of evidence compiled by Scotland Yard. The News of the World has suspended Ian Edmondson, its head of news, after claims by the actress Sienna Miller that her phone was hacked.

Mr Coulson spent much of the Christmas break considering his position, according to friends, amid signs that the hacking row would not go away. “He was protective of the PM,” said one ally. “He didn’t want to cause him trouble.”

Mr Cameron’s judgment has been questioned over his decision to hire Mr Coulson, six months after he resigned from the News of the World, and then hanging on to him while the allegations began to mount.

Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, said Mr Coulson had done the right thing, but that he should have gone earlier: “I think it raises real questions about David Cameron’s judgment that he hung on to Andy Coulson for so long.”

Friends insisted that his departure should not be seen as a private admission of “trouble coming down the track”. Mr Coulson had denied to a Commons select committee any knowledge of illegal practices on his watch at the paper and said yesterday that he stood by his previous comments. But continued speculation had made it impossible for him to give “the 110 per cent needed in this role”.

Mr Coulson approached Mr Cameron to tell him he had decided to go. The Prime Minister tried to talk him out of it, according to aides, but in the end had to accept Mr Coulson’s reasons for wanting to resign.

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