Andy Coulson resigns for the second time during an investigation into phone hacking charges against the News of the World, his former employer. Coulson has been communications director for UK Prime Minister David Cameron since 2007.
As iMediaEthics has written before, Coulson reportedly offered to resign during this current investigation. After Coulson’s resignation Jan. 21, David Cameron stated Coulson’s resignation was because of “pressures.”
Cameron commented in a statement: “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. 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.”
In a statement, Coulson explained:
“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 percent 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.”
As Bloomberg noted, Coulson “has denied any knowledge of illegal activity when he was editor of Britain’s best-selling Sunday newspaper, from which he resigned after a reporter and a private investigator were imprisoned for phone-tapping in 2007.”
The Telegraph has collected a list of the “latest updates and reactions following” the resignation. See here.