Ed Miliband: Coulson leaves ‘a cloud over Downing Street’
By Ian Dunt
A cloud will hang over Downing Street until there are clear answers about Andy Coulson’s knowledge of phone hacking, Ed Miliband has said.
Speaking to politics.co.uk, the Labour leadership candidate said the director of communications in Downing Street needed to answer the allegations being made against him by former colleagues at the News of the World.
“There are very serious questions to answer, very serious questions to answer,” Mr Miliband said.
“You’ve got a very respected global newspaper, the New York Times, which is making serious allegations against someone who is the most senior communications person in Downing Street and I don’t think they can be just laughed off or brushed off by the Conservative party.
“I think they’ve got to answer them and if I was David Cameron I would be demanding answers from Andy Coulson about the specific allegations. He gave clear evidence to a Commons select committee which is contradicted by a number of people.”
The comments come as the Commons launched a standards inquiry into the affair, opening the way for News International executives to answer questions about their awareness of the practise in parliament.
“The cloud will hand over Downing Street and their news machine until these allegations have been properly answered,” Mr Miliband added.
The Tories initially responded to the accusations with claims that Labour was acting in a party political manner, but yesterday leader of the House Sir George Young told MPs the party would back a standards inquiry into the row.
