David Cameron was yesterday again forced to express his regret at hiring Andy Coulson as his Downing Street spin doctor.
Following Tuesday’s explosive new claims about phone hacking, the Prime Minister struck a contrite tone by saying “sorry”, admitting he would now have “taken different decisions”.
Asked if it was time for him to apologise, the Prime Minister responded: “Well, I did actually say sorry in the House of Commons, very clearly. I said I was sorry for the trouble this had caused because of what had happened.”
Speaking during a visit to Cheshire, Mr Cameron added: “Clearly, if I had known then all the things I know now, then obviously I would have taken different decisions.
“And the important thing to remember is that Andy Coulson doesn’t work for the Government any more and, of course, when he was working for the Government, no one made complaints about the work that he did. But let’s let the police and the other investigations go to work.”
Labour MP Denis MacShane called for Mr Cameron, who received repeated warnings not to hire Mr Coulson, to make a statement to MPs when the Commons returns in September.
James Murdoch was also facing calls to stand down as chairman of BskyB after two former executives at the paper claimed he had misled Parliament about his knowledge of phone hacking. Labour MP Chris Bryant said: “If I were a shareholder in News Corp or BSkyB, I would be urging James Murdoch to step aside.
“The allegations go to the heart of whether he and the organisation he runs are fit and proper to publish newspapers or run TV companies.”
Mr Murdoch remains in control of News International, although the media regulator Ofcom is currently investigating whether he is a “fit and proper” person to run the company.