Green Party Policy on Andy Coulson

This resolution was passed unanimously at the last Green Party Conference in Birmingham Sept 10-13th.

1.    Conference notes that the scandal arising from illegal surveillance of public figures by the News of the World raises many important questions relating to democracy in the UK. It is emerging that the tabloid press frequently indulge in illegality. The influence of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire is excessive, and its relations with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), who appear to have failed to conduct the News of the World investigation with due diligence, is questionable.

Conference resolves that the Green Party, through its elected members and its press activity, should call for :
1.    An independent inquiry, whether judicial or by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Police.
2.    The MPS to  release all information relating to illegal surveillance to those affected by it
3.    A fresh investigation into the surveillance by a police force other than the MPS
4.    Mobile phone companies to review and improve their customers' security
5.    The setting up of a Media Commission, along the lines of the Banking Commission, to review and make recommendations on better journalistic practices, including the matter of undue domination of the media by a single person or corporation.
6.    An amnesty for past acts of illegal surveillance by journalists, in order to get a fresh start without an unmanageable number of individual court cases
7.    The Press Complaints Commission to be replaced by a body with real authority to correct errors within the media.

Coulson: journalist hacking amnesty needed

The news that the Crown Prosecution Service has decided to give up its half-hearted pursuit of Andy Coulson, Cameron's mendacious spinmeister, comes as no surprise. The CPS it was that took the extraordinary decision not to advise the News of the World's original victims that they had been hacked.  The CPS is part of the police service, and there is evidence that the police have been taking money from the NoTW, so effectively they would be investigating themselves.

The reason given by the CPS is that none of the many journalists who can testify that Coulson knew of the hacking are willing to give their names. Well, duh. Of course not, they would be incriminating themselves, and liable to be prosecuted for breaking the law.

So, as the Green Party Conference has said, there is a need for an amnesty on all journalists involved in phone hacking, so that the truth can come out and we can start again with a clean sheet.


Here is a link to the Ballad of Andy Coulson.