Monday, September 12, 2011

#hacking: Andy #Coulson 'helped spin story of George Osborne and dominatrix'

Andy Coulson helped “spin” a story about George Osborne’s past links to a drug-taking dominatrix, preventing severe damage to his political career, it has been claimed

Andy Coulson helped 'spin' George Osborne dominatrix story, it has been claimed
 
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George Osborne, Natalie Rowe and Andy Coulson:  Photo: REX FEATURES/GETTY
A lawyer for Natalie Rowe, the former boss of an escort agency, has suggested that Mr Coulson's treatment of the story may have been linked to his subsequent appointment as David Cameron's communications chief.
It emerged earlier this year that Mr Osborne had played a key role in recruiting Mr Coulson to work as the Tories’ media advisor after he resigned from the tabloid over phone hacking in 2007.
The appointment rehabilitated Mr Coulson’s career, and he went on to become the Downing Street communications chief after the Coalition came to power last year.
But he stepped down from that role before being arrested as part of the Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking at the newspaper he once edited.
The controversy over his appointment as David Cameron’s Downing Street spin chief has been reignited, however, after Miss Rowe, the former head of an escort agency called Black Beauties, gave an interview with the Australian state broadcaster, the ABC. ...read more