Public Confidence in the Media and Police

Richard Burden Excerpts

Wednesday 20th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

That is an incredibly important point. Police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day and while of course we have to get to the bottom of what went wrong in the Met, we should not allow that to undermine public confidence in the bobby on the beat and the fantastic job they do for us.

[Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)]

In response to my hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), the Prime Minister said that, if he had been given credible information regarding Andy Coulson, he would have done something about it, so will he now answer the question from my hon. Friend the Member for West Bromwich East (Mr Watson)? When the Prime Minister received that letter in October, what did he do?

[The Prime Minister]

The answer is that with all the information that came out while Andy Coulson was working at No. 10 Downing street, there was a permanent conversation, if you like. Was this new evidence that he knew about phone hacking? If it was, he would have to go; if it was not, he would not. That is the key point. Let me answer this way. In the end, because there were so many allegations and because he was not able to get on with his job, he left. The second chance I gave him did not work. We can go over this a million times, but in the end the decision to appoint him is mine, for which I have taken full responsibility. His conduct at No. 10 Downing street is not something that is under question, so I think it would be better if we spent our time working out how we are going to clear up the illegality that took place.