Quizzical eyes turn on Yates

The phone hacking saga is now moving at such pace it threatens to engulf the political establishment (whether it is a sufficiently serious story to do so is another matter).

After Sir Paul Stephenson’s theatrical resignation, timed to upset newspaper deadlines and plotted to embarrass the Prime Minister, attention has now turned to John Yates. Boris Johnson has said that Yates has ‘questions to answer’; and Brian Paddick argues that Yates should fall on his sword too.

The Metropolitan Police Standards Committee meets this morning, and, as Laura Kuenssberg notes, it may discuss John Yates’ conduct. Yates’ defence (that he was overseeing 20 terror cases at the same time as the phone hacking inquiry and had to prioritise national security) is reasonable enough, another indication that this story is burgeoning out of all proportion. But the media storm is such that there is a sense that more heads will roll yet; and this all did place on Yates’ watch.