Mr Coulson...he say yes!

The only point Andy Coulson looked a little uneasy during his cross examination at the Leveson Inquiry yesterday was when he was asked about his shares in News Corp.

He held £40k worth during his entire time as Cameron's media supremo and at no point considered the potential conflict of interest.  "In retrospect I wish I had paid more attention to it," he added.

Mr Jay's next question was even more revealing. No-one had even asked him about the shares. Such was the paucity of clearance procedure for someone at the heart of No.10. He admitted yesterday he wasn't even aware himself of what level of clearance he had. And tied to this was Coulson's jaw-dropping admission he regularly had access to Top Secret material and attended the National Security Council. The obvious inference of not having him properly cleared was that it would have been a test he would have clearly failed. So Cameron's 'solution' was consistent breaches of security.

Coulson generally managed to limit the damage to his former employers by his stonewalling and refusal to agree even the most inconsequential detail. Asked whether he himself wrote a kind editorial about George Osborne hit with accusations of cocaine use, he said he didn't always write the editorial, he spoke to someone, they did a draft, he edited it, then agreed it or just wrote it. Much simpler to just say, yes.

But there were enough hand grenades in there which had to explode as he was under oath. It is beginning to look rather foolish of Cameron to order this Inquiry as it is inflicting more and more political damage on him. The again, Nixon thought it a good idea to reveal the Oval Office tapes.