Paddy Ashdown, Clegg’s mentor, went further, later saying, ‘I warned Number 10 within days of the election that they would suffer terrible damage if they did not get rid of Coulson, when these things came out, as it was inevitable they would.’8
Even Coulson himself told Cameron that he would be happy to call it a day and not join the premiership team. His suggestion was ignored. Cameron and Osborne were contemplating taking on the biggest challenge of their lives, running the country, and they were in no mood to jettison their worldly press adviser on the threshold of power. Coulson duly moved across into Number 10, to the surprise of some inside and outside the Conservative Party.
His first few months at Number 10 belie the concerns and appear only to confirm Cameron’s and Osborne’s judgement in sticking by their man. Coulson sets up camp in Number 12, in the same space where Brown had based himself alongside his media outfit and other chief aides. Coulson establishes strong and good relations with all media outlets, and imposes a calm and reassured regime within Downing Street. He pivots the day around two meetings: at 8 a.m., half an hour before the PM’s morning meeting with the core members of the Number 10 team, including Jeremy Heywood and George Osborne; and at 5 p.m., after the even more important 4 p.m. meeting, when further key decisions are taken. He swiftly builds a strong relationship with Jonny Oates from the Lib Dems, whom he appoints as his deputy, and Lena Pietsch who subsequently replaces Oates when Oates becomes Clegg’s chief of staff. Remaining sceptics are won over by Coulson’s professionalism and personal consideration: ‘He was very well liked, doing things people don’t normally do in that world like buying people presents,’ says an aide. Relations remain fiery with Hilton, a hangover from their long and bitter disputes in Opposition. But this relationship is an exception to the rule. Civil servants remaining in Downing Street through the transition come to see his considerable strengths. It is Coulson’s recommendation that the savvy Treasury official Steve Field becomes the PM’s official spokesman – a successful appointment.
But rumblings about him refuse to go away. On 1 September, the New York Times publishes on its website a lengthy account of phone hacking at News International claiming that Coulson himself had known about it.9 This is dynamite. His appointment to Number 10 is beginning to fail the ‘smell test’. Cameron and Osborne dig in further, compounding their earlier lack of rigour in probing Coulson’s knowledge of the affair by refusing to reconsider the wisdom of confirming his appointment. Indeed they feel it would appear weak to cut him loose in the absence of direct evidence linking him to the scandal. They hope that the noise will simply go away. It doesn’t.
The weeks following the party conference in Birmingham see Coulson’s reputation go into free fall. Cabinet Secretary Gus O’Donnell worries that Cameron is not wanting to face up to the issue, nor to probe further into the truth of the allegations. Nor is he happy with Coulson saying that he will quit if it becomes too big a distraction: this is an admission of guilt, he believes, and tells Cameron so. Cameron still holds his ground: he appointed Coulson on the basis of what he knew at the time, and he will not now abandon him to satisfy those trying to prise him out. To do so, he says, would be to show weakness to his many enemies. He hasn’t even been charged with any crime, Cameron maintains, let alone been convicted. Internally, though, the unity of Cameron’s court is beginning to fracture. Hilton has begun to think he should go: Osborne, Fall and aide Gabby Bertin think he should stay. ‘Our whole stance was not to question what Andy said, but to accept his validation and to defend it,’ says one of them. ‘We believed it, because we made ourselves believe it.’ Coulson is willing to stand down. Again Cameron persuades him to stay. Fatally, Coulson accepts.
By December, the pressure becomes almost unsustainable. On the 21st, the Daily Telegraph publishes a transcript of Business Secretary Vince Cable stating that he has ‘declared war’ on Murdoch and will block the proposed takeover of BSkyB by News International’s parent company, News Corp.10 Following the advice of the Treasury solicitor, which stresses the need for impartiality, Cameron strips the Business Secretary of his quasi-legal responsibility for competition and media policy, giving it to Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Suspicion is fuelled that he is protecting the Murdoch group. Ian Edmondson, news editor at the News of the World, is suspended early in the New Year over allegations of phone hacking at the paper in 2005–6.11
By the third week of January 2011, Coulson’s position is untenable. He quits on the 21st, saying, ‘When the spokesman needs a spokesman, it’s time to move on.’12 Cameron is mortified. ‘I’m very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign,’ he announces. ‘Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the government … he can be extremely proud of the role he has played, including for the last eight months in government.’13 Andrew Feldman says, ‘David depended on Andy for so many things. He respected him, and valued his advice deeply.’14 Cameron knows instinctively that his communications director’s departure will give licence to all who resent his leadership to come out into the open, not least the Tory MPs still simmering after the expenses scandal.
Many in Number 10 are devastated to see Coulson go. There are plenty of tears. Not from Hilton, though, who views it as the opportunity for a major push on the Big Society. But he is at one with the rest of Cameron’s team hoping that the boil has finally been lanced, and that they can look forward to a busy spring without further distractions. Yet the press reaction worries them. It is overwhelmingly negative, typified by the Independent, which says: ‘This affair casts serious doubt on the prime minister’s judgement. He saw fit to appoint Mr Coulson as the Conservative Party’s director of communications when the former editor was tarred by association with the phone-hacking scandal. Why would he want such a compromised spokesman? Was he naive enough to believe Mr Coulson’s assurances? Or did he not care about what had taken place? Neither scenario is very comforting.’15 While naivety is certainly the more plausible explanation, there can be no doubt that there was an abject lack of judgement.
Cameron and Osborne move quickly to cover the gap. The search is on for a successor to Coulson. Because of their reluctance until the last minute to see him go, planning for this eventuality has not taken place. Although not his first choice, Coulson suggests Craig Oliver who had run World News at the BBC, as well as editing the Six O’Clock News and News at Ten. Oliver is summoned to Chequers where he talks to Cameron. They get on well. Llewellyn and Osborne approach the BBC’s political editor, Nick Robinson, for his professional views of Oliver: his reference is positive. As the job is partly an official role, Heywood is brought in: he is impressed by Oliver’s experience at running media programmes.
Number 10 communications directors (earlier called ‘press secretaries’) had traditionally come from newspapers – for example, Joe Haines under Wilson, Bernard Ingham under Thatcher, and Alastair Campbell under Blair. Cameron’s team are excited about Oliver’s experience of broadcasting. He arrives with a bang, making it clear that much of Coulson’s operation was out of date. ‘It’s all very old school, very slow and reactive: 1980s mentality,’ he is heard to say. He wants the whole operation shifted towards digital and social media. Regular Thursday slots are arranged for Cameron to talk to regional radio stations from Number 10. He continues with the ‘PM Direct’ meetings, which give Cameron the opportunity to meet and talk to people across the country. Cameron even starts ‘tweeting’.16 There is, however, a downside: handling the media in the wake of the hacking scandal would inevitably create friction. Fiercely loyal to his boss, Oliver takes on the press lobby, making enemies in the process. Not all in Number 10 adapt easily to the new style. They dislike the criticisms of Coulson’s style, and hanker for the man with whom they had worked so closely through good times and bad for four years. It is all new territory for Cameron’s close-knit inner circle. They are initially wary of the new broom, and it takes a full two years