(no subject)
Andy Coulson displays a nice line in sarcasm at the Leveson inquiry:
"38. My only other dealings with Mr Osborne were in relation to a story the News of the World published in October 2005. At some point in the days before publication, I contacted Mr Osborne to say that my news desk had a story about him. I wanted to give him a full opportunity to respond. Mr Osborne told me that he would be providing a statement via the party’s press office. He then did so on the day of publication. The same statement was given to The Sunday Mirror. It has been suggested that, with magical foresight on my part, I went easy on Mr Osborne in the hope of getting a job 15 months later. I would point out two things: first, I had no idea that I would leave the paper at this point and I had no intention of working in politics; second, I published the story with the headline TOP TORY, COKE AND THE HOOKER across six columns of the front page of the biggest selling Sunday newspaper (I attach a copy of the article as AEC/2). It is, I think, fair to say that I did not go easy on Mr Osborne and that he wouid not have considered that week’s paper to be career enhancing."
"38. My only other dealings with Mr Osborne were in relation to a story the News of the World published in October 2005. At some point in the days before publication, I contacted Mr Osborne to say that my news desk had a story about him. I wanted to give him a full opportunity to respond. Mr Osborne told me that he would be providing a statement via the party’s press office. He then did so on the day of publication. The same statement was given to The Sunday Mirror. It has been suggested that, with magical foresight on my part, I went easy on Mr Osborne in the hope of getting a job 15 months later. I would point out two things: first, I had no idea that I would leave the paper at this point and I had no intention of working in politics; second, I published the story with the headline TOP TORY, COKE AND THE HOOKER across six columns of the front page of the biggest selling Sunday newspaper (I attach a copy of the article as AEC/2). It is, I think, fair to say that I did not go easy on Mr Osborne and that he wouid not have considered that week’s paper to be career enhancing."