British PM drags opponents into hacking scandal

Associated Press

LONDON

Prime Minister David Cameron dragged his political foes into Britain’s phone-hacking scandal at a raucous session of Parliament on Wednesday, distancing himself from a former aide at the heart of the allegations and denying his staff tried to thwart police investigations.

Cameron, who flew back from Africa early for the emergency session, defended his decision to hire former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief, saying Coulson’s work in government had been untarnished.

Coulson was arrested this month in connection with allegations that reporters at the tabloid intercepted voice mails of celebrities and crime victims to get scoops. Cameron reminded lawmakers that Coulson has yet to be found guilty of anything.

But the prime minister also made his strongest effort yet to distance himself from his former aide.

“With 20/20 hindsight, and all that has followed, I would not have offered him the job, and I expect that he wouldn’t have taken it,” Cameron told lawmakers who packed the House of Commons. “You live and you learn, and believe you me, I have learnt.”

Cameron then turned the spotlight on the Labour Party, saying that most British politicians had tried to court media baron Rupert Murdoch — whose News Corp. owned the defunct News of the World and still owns three other British newspapers.

The prime minister warned that Labour should be careful before casting stones about hiring choices. Former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair’s communications director, Alastair Campbell, was accused of exaggerating government documents in the lead-up to the Iraq war, and the party’s former special adviser Damian McBride quit amid allegations he circulated scurrilous rumors about political opponents.

Murdoch flew out of London on Wednesday, a day after he and his son James were quizzed for three hours by a parliamentary committee investigating wrongdoing by the News of the World.