[Nedusa]

Originally Posted by joeysteele

He was wrong to hire him but he acted in good faith as to what Andy Coulson told him or in this case didn't tell him.

It is a question of judgement on David Cameron's behalf, and many things he has done since the start of his premiership do leave a lot to be desired as to how good his judgement in lots of areas are.

However way back,I said here on tibb too,something like, I admired the way David Cameron stood by him and that he wasn't prepared to judge Andy Coulson or comment until likely something was proven against him.

Now it has been proven, David Cameron has immediately apologised, so to be fair to him, that is,in my opinion, all to David Cameron's credit.

I agree with you to a point Joey, however I feel at the time although Andy Coulson was not charged or implicated in anything he was connected to the problem in the NOTW and could be drawn into it at a later date.

For this reason the PM was advised by more than one advisor not to hire him as it could blow up in his face at a later date. He ignored that good advice and went ahead and hired him anyway. Now he has to apologise (again) and have his judgement questioned once more.

In my opinion this is damaging to the Prime Minister whichever way he tries to deflect criticism.