Andy Coulson

Andy Coulson
Downing Street Director of Communications
In office
11 May 2010 – 21 January 2011
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded bySimon Lewis
Succeeded byCraig Oliver
Personal details
Born
Andrew Edward Coulson

(1968-01-21) 21 January 1968 (age 56)
Billericay, Essex, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Eloise Patrick
​
(m. 2000)​
[1]
Children3
OccupationJournalist, newspaper editor

Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968)[2][3] is an English journalist and political strategist.

Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 to 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking. He subsequently joined David Cameron's personnel as communications director, until announcing his departure on 21 January 2011 because of continued media coverage of the phone-hacking affair.[4][5] The overall impact from his tenure came to be known as the "Coulson effect".[6][7]

Coulson was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Service on 8 July 2011 in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking.[8] He was detained and charged with perjury by Strathclyde Police on 30 May 2012 in relation to evidence he had given in the trial of Scottish politician Tommy Sheridan in 2010, and cleared on 3 June 2015.[9][10][11][12]

In June 2014 at the Old Bailey, Coulson was found guilty of a charge of conspiracy to intercept voicemails (phone-hacking).[13] He was sentenced on 4 July 2014 to 18 months in prison.[14] On 30 June 2014, it was announced that he would face a retrial over two counts of conspiring to cause misconduct in public office – in relation to the alleged purchase of confidential royal phone directories in 2005 from a palace police officer – after the jury in the original trial was unable to reach a verdict on them.[15]

Coulson was also tried over charges that he committed perjury in the evidence he gave in HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan in 2010.[16][17] This trial started on 11 May 2015 because of the general election.[18] On 3 June 2015, he was cleared of those perjury charges, since, if he had lied, it would not have been relevant to the outcome.[9]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference affair-bbc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference indep was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Robinson, James (3 June 2010). "The Tories bring on new spinner". The Observer. London. Retrieved 30 November 2010.
  4. ^ "Coulson resigns due to phone-hacking scandal". The Spy Report. Media Spy. 21 January 2011. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Coulson Quits No 10 Over Phone-Hack Pressure". Sky News. 21 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  6. ^ Alan McGaul (22 September 2011). "Alan McGauley: This marriage of convenience is ending in tears". Yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  7. ^ John Harris (3 November 2007). "The odd couple". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  8. ^ Siddique, Haroon; Gabbatt, Adam; Quinn, Ben (8 July 2011). "News of the World phone-hacking scandal – live updates". guardian.co.uk. London: Guardian News and Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Andy Coulson cleared of perjury as trial collapses". BBC News. 3 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Andy Coulson charged in Tommy Sheridan trial perjury inquiry". BBC News. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  11. ^ Rose, Gareth (31 May 2012). "Scottish police charge Andy Coulson with Tommy Sheridan trial perjury". scotsman.com. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  12. ^ Carrell, Severin; Wintour, Patrick (30 May 2012). "Andy Coulson charged with perjury". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  13. ^ "Hacking trial: Coulson guilty, Brooks cleared of charges". BBC. 24 June 2014.
  14. ^ "Andy Coulson jailed for 18 months over phone hacking". BBC News. 4 July 2014.
  15. ^ Lisa O’Carroll, (June 2014). "Andy Coulson to face retrial over alleged payments to public officials", The Guardian, 30 June 2014, Accessed 30 June 2014
  16. ^ Ian Burrell, "Andy Coulson guilty in phone hacking trial: His future may well depend on a level of privacy denied the hacking victims", The Independent 24 June 2014
  17. ^ BBC News (July 2014). "Andy Coulson to face perjury charges over the Tommy Sheridan trial", BBC News, 7 July 2014. Accessed 7 July 2014
  18. ^ "Andy Coulson perjury trial delayed until after general election". The Guardian. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.