Brief description of the alleged involvement of Andy Coulson in the phone hacking scandal

1. Andy Coulson

2. Timeline
• 1986 - Andy Coulson starts work at Basildon Evening
Echo
• 1988 - He joins The Sun
• 1994 - He has a brief stint at the Daily Mail before returning to News
International
• 2003 - He becomes editor of the NoW
• Jan 2007 - He resigns on same day as Clive Goodman is convicted
• Jul 2007 - He becomes the Conservative Party's director of communications
• May 2010 - following the general election he takes up a similar job in Downing
Street
• Jan 2011 - he resigns
• July 2011 - E-mails emerge allegedly showing he authorised payments to police
when NoW editor
• Sept 2011 - Takes legal action against his former employer after it stopped paying
his legal fees in relation to the phone-hacking scandal

3. Leveson inquiry: Steve Coogan claims
Andy Coulson set him up
• The Actor tells inquiry that lurid details of his
private life were revealed by the News of the
World after he was set up in sting by former
editor Andy Coulson and Rav Singh, the
paper's ex showbiz columnist. Coogan said the
newspaper agreed not to publish explicit
details about his extra-marital affair in April
2004 if he confirmed less salacious details.

4. • Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson have been
branded "the scum of journalism" in a series
of allegations from a former News of the
World deputy features editor at the UK inquiry
into press standards.Paul McMullan accused
Coulson of introducing "wholesale" phone
hacking when he appointed editor of the
News of the World in 2003, and described
Brooks as "the criminal-in-chief”.

5. • Isn’t it possible that Cameron insisted on
hiring Coulson because of his role in the
scandal? That is, is it possible that, either
before or after the election, Coulson shared
some of this intelligence–which we know
included personal information about Gordon
Brown–with the Tories
for political advantage?

6. • Detailed article on the BBC:
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11204150