Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

Hmmmm - the whispering corridors of power and squabbling over whose head is next on the block to save PM Cameron.

My money is on Fedorcio being next to get a big cheque to fuck off and keep quiet.

I don't find any of this testimony particularly credible.

Phone hacking: Cameron chief of staff 'turned down' Met police briefing

John Yates names Ed Llewellyn as senior official who asked police not to tell PM in 2010 about decision to hire Neil Wallis

Adam Gabbatt and Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 July 2011 16.21 BST

David Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, turned down the opportunity to be briefed on phone hacking, according to former Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates.

Yates, who resigned on Monday, reviewed the phone-hacking evidence in 2009. He told the home affairs select committee that he offered to brief Llewellyn in September 2010, but Llewellyn said he would be "grateful" if the matter was not raised.

It came as Yates clashed with the director of public affairs at the Met, Dick Fedorcio, over who was responsible for the appointment of the former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis.

Llewellyn now appears to be under pressure after Yates revealed he was the "senior official" who asked the Met not to brief the prime minister on the hacking scandal in September 2010.

The Met police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, giving evidence before Yates, said a senior official in No 10 had advised the Met not to inform the prime minister about the police's decision to hire Wallis.

Yates then confirmed Llewellyn was the adviser in question. He said Llewellyn told him it was not appropriate for him to brief the PM on the phone-hacking investigation, adding "and I'd be grateful if it wasn't raised".

Last week it emerged Llewellyn also failed to pass to Cameron the Guardian's warnings about the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson over hacking and his connections to Jonathan Rees, a private detective who was then facing charges for conspiracy to murder. Despite the warnings Llewellyn took the judgment that the information was already substantially contained in news reports in the public domain.

Separately Yates disputed the evidence given to the committee by Fedorcio, who had suggested Yates was responsible for screening Wallis before his appointment to the Met.

Fedorcio said Yates conducted "due diligence" on Wallis before his appointment, but Yates told the committee that would be "slightly over-egging the pudding".

He said he had sought personal assurances from Wallis before his appointment, but said that was not due diligence.

Yates also denied helping Wallis's daughter get a job at the Met, saying he "simply acted as a postbox" by forwarding on her CV by email, and said while he was "friends" with Wallis, this relationship mainly revolved around sport.