Coulson loosens the noose

The New York Times has produced what last year’s Guardian phone-hacking campaign lacked: direct testimony against Andy Coulson. Sean Hoare and an unnamed former News of the Screws editor allege that the practice was widespread and that Coulson encouraged it. These new revelations have rightly forced the Met to re-consider the case.

At present, the political furore surrounds the Met’s incompetence not just the allegations against Coulson. Bill Keller, executive editor of the NYT, has claimed categorically that the ‘police already have evidence that they have chosen not to pursue’. Critics always believed the original investigation’s remit was too narrow, and Yates of the Yard was less than convincing when trying to dispel such criticism on this morning’s Today programme – his claim that ‘just because your name is on an invoice (of a private investigator) doesn’t mean your phone has been hacked’ does not establish the facts of specific allegations.