The spotlight moves onto the police

Tomorrow’s New York Times contains more revelations on the overly cosy nature of the relationship between the police and News International. The paper alleges that Neil Wallis, who was acting as a media consultant for Scotland Yard from autumn 2009 to 2010 and was arrested this week in relation to the phone hacking case, was ‘reporting back to News International while he was working for the police on the hacking case.’ It should be stressed that this allegation has not been proven.

If The New York Times’ allegation is correct, then the police’s decision to hire Wallis becomes—hard, though, this is—an even more stupid one.

I suspect that the actions of the police will come in for far more scrutiny in the next few days. It is clear that at all levels of the Metropolitan police, there were people who had relationships with the press that were, at the least, inappropriate.