PM's ex-aide denies he was hired for Murdoch ties
Source: Associated Press
May 10, 1:07 PM EDT
PM's ex-aide denies he was hired for Murdoch ties
By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press
LONDON (AP) -- The secretive spin doctor who helped bring Prime Minister David Cameron to power made a rare public appearance Thursday at Britain's media ethics inquiry - denying that he got the job to boost Cameron's clout with Rupert Murdoch's powerful media empire.
Andy Coulson, who edited Murdoch's now-defunct tabloid News of the World when its illegal phone hacking was first exposed, bridled when asked if Cameron had hired him because his Murdoch connections could help gain newspapers' backing.
"Well, they wouldn't hurt," Coulson said of his connections. "But I didn't ever express the view that they would guarantee any kind of support."
Coulson told the judge-led inquiry that there was no dealmaking "grand conspiracy" among politicians and journalists. But he conceded that politicians and the press had grown too close.
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