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.

A Fool Such As I

If you're ever lost, don't ask Danny Alexander (left) the way.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury's analysis of the Scottish elections was breathtaking and laughable. It couldn't have been just arrogance and a dash of wishful thinking to suggest the SNP, the winning and most dominant party in Scotland must have been "bitterly disappointed" by the vote on Thursday. But even a crude view of the numbers would indicate something more delusional.

The Liberal Democrats in Scotland are a spent force. Their previously poor total of 151 councillors was reduced to a rump of just 71, some way short of the dismal Conservatives on 115. Meanwhile the good ship Salmond has 424 seats and Labour 394. Alexander bemoaned the mid-term blues of the Coalition's cumalitive loss of 800 seats to Labour across Britain. But the SNP were in their mid-term too yet they picked up 57 seats.

Danny's pompous sniping at the Nationalists reminded me of a prefect poised to fail all his A-Levels. We know, and he knows, all his authority will soon me taken from him yet in the meantime he throws his weight around at his familiar enemies.

The Liberal Democrats now have less than 3,000 councillors nationwide so have returned to where they were in 1988 under David Steel before Ashdown and Kennedy carved them a niche as a proper third party. Yet, Danny Boy seems fine about pontificating about SNP's "failure" to convince the electorate on the case for Independence. He is tallking about people's convictions based on the way he wishes the world to be and not by what people actually think.

In Edinburgh ward of Pentland Hills, the Lib-Dem candidate lost to a man dressed as a penguin. As a Minister Alexander can make any observation he likes, however obtuse. But very soon he will have no right to even say it.

Don't Push It

Since the Leveson Inquiry started there has been a wholesale change in approach to it by the newspapers and police. Although there are a few gripes, both institutions have ceased attacking the basis of the Inquiry and have settled on a mediation strategy.

Not so the politicians. They are, if anything, incrasingly intransigent in the face of the New World Order and act as if political traps and deceit can still win the day. The Coalition's insistence that Hunt's disreputable behaviour on the BskyB bid should not be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny but deferred until Leveson has taken a view was a desperate attempt to shield him from the inevitable beheading which awaits him. This shows poor judgement by the PM. Again.

To do so would make Brian Leveson the political arbiter in the case and that is a role he will certainly refuse. When Clegg boasted without any basis about bringing forward Hunt's evidence for his political convenience the Inqury said, "Halt."

When Mr Jay, the Leveson Inquiry's QC (pictured) has his opportunity in three weeks time to cross examine Hunt he will no doubt be mindful of the attempt by ministers to push the Inquiry in a particular direction to save Hunt. And the Secretary of State will find political answers will not remotely suffice when posed tough legal questions.

Time to Make Knee Jerk Reactions

When Jeremy Hunt dared to give his statement on his contact with News Corp during the bid process he looked like a man caught 'in flagrante' trying to calm down an irate husband.

He had already spoken at length with Cameron and they had decided between them they should hold the line of denying any wrong doing.

It won't wash. Cameron knows a quick resignation means accepting liability and consolidating the perception of collusion between Ministers and big business. The line Hunt will try to use is that he referred to Ofcom, sought independent advice, PR men will say anything and it was all the fault of my special adviser. It's pretty shakey but could be sustained for a day or two. His suggestion of clearing the air by an early appearance at Leveson is a dreadful strategy. It would mean Cameron suffering three weeks of damaging headlines before Hunt's cross examination.

And when it comes to it I expect a nasty experience in store. Ministers cannot obfuscate, gloss over and interupt in court as easily as at the dispatch box or TV studio. Neil Hamiltion found that in his libel case against the Guardian when George Carmen annihilated him in less than ten minutes.

Rupert Murdoch hits the stand this morning and it may be he has a little more to say on the matter. It would only take one small prod to knock Hunt flying off the political cliff.

Formula for a Riot

Formula One used to be one of the finest and most exciting sports.

It was a tortuous balance between engineering, driving skill, courage and luck. Drivers such as Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Nikki Lauda and Ayrton Senna were suitably celebrrated as great sporting heroes.

But eventually the cars became computerised and the televsion money increased inexorably and sport, for many, simply died. Througout this entire era F1 has ben run by the redoubtable and ruthless Bernie Ecclestone. It is hard to fathom the motivation for an 81 year old who seeks to make even more millions on top of his collosal fortune.

But his bottom line seems to be 'nothing should be allowed to get in the way of commercial gain'. Last year the civil uprising against King Hamad's regime caused the cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix but this year it is going ahead. Quite how a sporting event can be staged in the midst of such turmoil and oppression is bizarre. But Bernie who has, on more than one occassion, expressed his admiration for Hitler's organisational skills, has no qualms.

We should remember there have been dozens killed by the security forces, thousand injured and arrested. Medical staff who helped the injured have been imprisoned. Naturally the protestors are channelling their energies to a huge protest aiming to disrupt the race. Meanwhile our Bern says Bahrain is "quiet and peaceful."

All he proves is financial astuteness does not mean he understands the first thing about politics and the value of human rights.

The Last Word

Some years ago I worked in a part of the Home Office dealing with the hand-in of firearms after the Dunblane massacre.

I had the occasion to read the Cullen Report which included a passage on what the perpertrator, Thomas Hamilton, had done in detail. It was breathtaking and deeply disturbing, at times impossible to read - it was clear this murderer was exceptional and belonged in Dante's seventh circle of Hell.

The trial of Anders Breivik in Oslo this week has already shown he is even more despicable still. This dim-witted sociopath has no regret whatever about the 77 murderers he committed. He is in effect a modern day SS guard, perhaps he would not even argue with that description. Except many of the loathsome crimes of the SS were driven by the extremes of war. This excrutiating individual has created grand enemies from the safety of his own bedroom, in any case he is intellectually bankrupt and despite his claims of some honour in his 'cause' exists in a moral vacuum.

Sometimes events show there is actual evil within people, very occassionally a person is simply intrinsically evil themselves. It is unfortunate he has the right to publicise his perverse and idiotic beliefs on Norwegian television. I, for one, will not listen or read another word he has to say.

Not Just Making this Up.

The 'Right to a Family Life' doesn't sound such a bad thing. But in context of immigration law it is an infuriating obstacle to Ministers' ability to deport thousands more foreigners.

The Home Secretary, for it is she, has decided to 'order judges' to ignore Article 8 of the ECHR when deciding on deportation cases. I didn't realise the law worked that way.

I thought laws had to be decided by Parliament or the courts and not in May's little Private Office. Nevertheless the UK is a signatory to ECHR and has also since 2001 brought it into domestic legislation. It cannot be willed away in the desire for favourable headlines in the Sunday Telegraph.

We've been here before of course when she embellished an old social myth about an asylum seeker's cat into the cornerstone of her conference speech.

This is often what happens to Home Secretaries, they lose the ability to listen to officials who might say the latest proposal is pointless, legally unsound and saving up for future embarrassment. They listen to their special advisers who say responds to the real people's expectations, and shows she's gonna act tough. I don't see how this changes anything and judges are not known for being susceptible to taking orders from Ministers.