British PM under pressure over former spokesman
Source: Reuters
British PM under pressure over former spokesman
LONDON | Mon May 14, 2012 11:16am EDT
(Reuters) - The British government had no reason to delve deep into Andy Coulson's past when he became the prime minister's spokesman and would not have uncovered rampant phone-hacking at the newspaper Coulson used to edit, a former senior official said on Monday.
Coulson is at the heart of a long-running scandal centered on Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group and its close links with politicians. The issue of Coulson's security vetting, one of many sub-plots in the complex saga, has raised questions about Prime Minister David Cameron's judgment.
Testifying at the Leveson Inquiry into press standards, former Cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell said Coulson had received the basic "SC" security clearance when he entered Downing Street, the prime minister's office, rather than the more thorough "DV" vetting because he was not expected to be involved in security-related matters.
These arcane details have become politically sensitive because in his testimony at Leveson last week, Coulson said he "may have" had unsupervised access to top-secret documents and had attended meetings of the national security council.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/14/us-britain-politics-hacking-idUSBRE84D0PP20120514
