British Prime Minister David Cameron’s former communications chief was arrested Friday over allegations of phone hacking celebrities and murder victims and bribing police for information during his time as editor of scandal-sunk News of the World tabloid.
Cameron acted to distance himself from a crisis knocking at the door of 10 Downing Street, acknowledging that British politicians and the press had become too cozy and promising investigations into both the activities at the tabloid and into future media regulation.
“The truth is, we’ve all been in this together,” Cameron told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference Friday morning. “Party leaders were so keen to win the support of newspapers that we turned a blind eye to the need to sort out this issue.”
London police said a 43-year-old man was arrested Friday morning on suspicion of corruption and “conspiring to intercept communications”. They did not name him but offered the information when asked about Andy Coulson, Cameron’s once-powerful aide.
Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on Thursday shut down the 168-year-old muckraking tabloid, which has been engulfed by allegations its journalists paid police for information and hacked into the phone messages of celebrities, young murder victims and even the grieving families of dead soldiers.
Coulson quit as editor of News of the World after a reporter and a private investigator were jailed in 2007 for hacking into the voice mail messages of royal aides.
He maintained he knew nothing of the hacking, and was hired in 2010 as Cameron’s director of communications. Coulson resigned from his Downing Street job in January as it became clear that hacking had been far more widespread at the paper.
The scandal exploded this week after it was reported that the News of the World had hacked the mobile phone of 13-year-old murder victim Milly Dowler in 2002 while her family and police were desperately searching for her.
News of the World operatives reportedly deleted some messages from the phone’s voicemail, giving the girl’s parents false hope that she was still alive.
The phone hacking scandal has not only sunk a venerable newspaper, but exposed an uncomfortably close relationship among British politicians, press and police.
Cameron promised to hold investigations into activities at the News of the World and into future media regulation. He said press self-regulation had failed and a new body, independent of the media and the government, was needed to properly enforce standards.