Andy Coulson had a newspaper career before working for the Tories The prime minister’s communications chief Andy Coulson has resigned, blaming coverage of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
Mr Coulson said coverage had “made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role”.
He faced pressure after stories about phone hacking while he was editor.
Mr Coulson quit as editor in 2007 saying he took ultimate responsibility for the scandal but denied knowing phone hacking was taking place.
In a statement on Friday, he said it had been “a privilege and an honour to work for David Cameron for three-and-a-half years”.
But he added: “Unfortunately, continued coverage of events connected to my old job at the News of the World has made it difficult for me to give the 110% needed in this role.
“I stand by what I’ve said about those events but when the spokesman needs a spokesman, it’s time to move on.”
He said he would leave within weeks and was proud of the work he had done.
In a statement Mr Cameron praised him as a “brilliant member of my team”.
The prime minister said: “I am very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign as my director of communications, although I understand that the continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so.
“I believe it would be appropriate for the prime minister to come to the Commons to explain why this is happening and give the public the full details here in the House of Commons, rather than bury this news”
Denis McShane Labour MP
“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.”
Mr Coulson was editor of the News of the World in 2007 when its royal editor, Clive Goodman, was jailed for conspiracy to access phone messages. Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was jailed for six months on the same charge.
Mr Coulson denied any knowledge of phone hacking but resigned saying, as editor, he took “ultimate responsibility”. A Press Complaints Commission investigation found no evidence that he or anyone else at the paper had been aware of Goodman’s activities.
He became Mr Cameron’s director of communications in May 2007.
But recently pressure has mounted on Mr Coulson amid renewed newspaper investigations into the scale of phone hacking at the Sunday tabloid. Mr Coulson himself was interviewed as a witness by police in November.
In December Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said no new charges would be brought in the case, owing to a lack of admissible evidence.
Earlier this month the News of the World suspended its news editor, Ian Edmondson, over allegations of phone hacking in 2005-6, thought to involve the actress Sienna Miller.
In the Commons on Friday, former minister Denis MacShane demanded that the prime minister come to the chamber to make a statement on Mr Coulson’s resignation.
In a point of order, he said: “We’re being informed by television that Mr Andy Coulson, one of the most important figures in Her Majesty’s government and one of the closest aides to the Prime Minister – is now resigning.
“As the House is sitting, I believe it would be appropriate for the prime minister to come to the Commons to explain why this is happening and give the public the full details here in the House of Commons, rather than bury this news on a day when, frankly, there’s an awful lot of other news taking place.”
The statement comes on the day former Labour PM Tony Blair is before the Iraq Inquiry, and in the aftermath of Alan Johnson’s shock resignation as shadow chancellor.
BBC News Channel chief political correspondent Laura Kuenssberg said Mr Coulson had informed the prime minister on Wednesday he intended to resign.
Last week in a BBC interview Mr Cameron was asked if it was true that Mr Coulson had offered his resignation, the PM declined to answer, saying he did not “go into private conversations”.
He said Mr Coulson had resigned as News of the World editor when he found out about the “bad things” that had happened, and he did not think Mr Coulson should be punished twice.
He said he had given the former editor “a second chance” when he had appointed him, adding that Mr Coulson had done a “very good job” for the government and for the country.
“He’s extremely embarrassed by the endless publicity and speculation about what happened many years ago when he was editor of the News of the World,” he said.
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