Andy Coulson charged in Tommy Sheridan trial perjury inquiry

Last edited Wed May 30, 2012, 06:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: BBC

Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson has been detained by police investigating allegations of perjury.
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He has been held on suspicion of committing perjury at the trial of former MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010.
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Mr Coulson gave evidence at the perjury trial of former Scottish Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan in 2010.

Sheridan was awarded £200,000 in damages from the News of the World in 2006 after it printed allegations that he had committed adultery and visited a swingers' club.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-18262740

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So it may be perjury all the way down ...

To recap, in chronological:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheridan_v_News_International
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HM_Advocate_v._Sheridan_and_Sheridan

While Coulson was editor, the News of the World printed a story saying Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Socialist Member of the Scottish Parliament (well to the left of Labour, but quite admired for his competence across the political spectrum), had been committing adultery, visiting a "swingers' club". Sheridan sued for libel, and won, but the whole affair split the SSP. The NotW claimed Sheridan had committed perjury (they had a video of him admitting to some party members that he had been to the club, which he had denied in court), and Sheridan was eventually convicted of criminal perjury, with a jail sentence. In that court case, Coulson denied under oath telling reporters to hack phones.

Coulson left the NotW, after one reporter was convicted of hacking phones, saying he had known nothing about it, but that he should have been keeping a closer eye on things. David Cameron then hired him as director of communications for the Conservative Party, while still in opposition, with everyone saying this showed how close he wanted to be to Murdoch newspapers. When Cameron got elected as PM, he brought Coulson into the government offices (though others, such as some Lib Dems in the coalition, warned him Coulson was a PoS who shouldn't be given an official position). Coulson was then allowed access to papers too confidential for the pro forma security vetting he was given.

Then the phone hacking affair blew up in a major way, Coulson resigned under pressure, and has since been arrested for 'conspiring to intercept communications'.