Hackgate - two different treatments and views.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/9142094/Arrests-of-Rebekah-and-Charlie-Brooks-cast-shadow-on-David-Camerons-arrival-in-US.html

By Gordon Rayner, Christopher Hope and Mark Hughes

10:00PM GMT 13 Mar 2012

Downing Street conceded that the Prime Minister could be questioned under oath about his close ties to Mrs Brooks and her husband Charlie, who was also arrested on suspicion of the same offence. The Prime Minister could be required to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry later this year.

The arrests of Mr and Mrs Brooks on suspicion of an offence which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment coincided with Mr Cameron’s arrival in the US, where he is spending two days as a guest of President Barack Obama.

Mr Cameron, who earlier this month described Mr Brooks as a “good friend for over 30 years”, could face questions on the matter as early as today when he attends a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House.

Labour’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman, called on the Leveson Inquiry to investigate “the full extent of the relations between the Prime Minister and senior News International executives at the time when hacking was rife”.

Mrs Brooks, 43, and her husband, 49, were arrested at their home in Chipping Norton, Oxon, in one of a series of dawn raids in which four other people were held.

The couple and News International’s head of security, Mark Hanna, were released on bail last night, as were two unnamed men arrested in London and Hampshire. A 38-year-old man arrested in Hertfordshire was still in custody in a central London police station. Mrs Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World, was previously arrested and bailed last July by officers investigating phone hacking and illicit payments to public officials.

The arrests followed the disclosure by The Daily Telegraph last month that News International set up an “email deletion policy” after Mrs Brooks became chief executive, in which staff were told to destroy material that could compromise the company in future court cases.

The arrest of Mr Brooks, a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and Old Etonian friend of Mr Cameron, follows the discovery last year of a laptop computer in a bin near the London flat he shares with his wife. The racehorse trainer has always maintained that the computer, which was put in the bin by a cleaner, was nothing to do with his wife and was left in a car park because of a misunderstanding.

Earlier this month Mr Cameron was forced to admit that he had ridden a police horse lent to Mrs Brooks by the Metropolitan Police. The Prime Minister is a near-neighbour of Mr and Mrs Brooks, who are part of the so-called “Chipping Norton set” that also includes the TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson and Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth.

Asked whether Mr Cameron would co-operate with the inquiry, his official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has long said that if politicians including himself are required to come forward as witnesses [to the Leveson Inquiry], then of course we will co-operate with that inquiry.”

Asked if Mr Cameron would he happy to answer questions about his friendship with the Brookses, the spokesman added: “I am not going to try to predict what the questions might be. He said he would co-operate with the inquiry.”

An aide travelling with Mr Cameron said: “The police investigation must run its course and go wherever the evidence leads.”

Mr Cameron last night became the first foreign leader to accompany Mr Obama on board Air Force One, the official presidential aeroplane. The pair were due to travel to a college basketball game in Dayton, Ohio, where the Prime Minister had prepared to be interviewed about the sport.

Today, Mr Cameron will be welcomed on the White House lawn by the president and 6,000 invited guests. This evening, the US administration has organised a lavish state dinner in honour of Mr Cameron, the only such event being planned by Mr Obama this year.

Downing Street aides have been impressed and surprised by the warmth of the reception being offered by the Obamas. Mrs Cameron is on her first official foreign trip and last night accompanied Michelle Obama on a visit to meet Washington schoolchildren competing in a mini-Olympics.

Mr Cameron said that the relationship between Britain and America was “increasingly strong” and that observers had read too much into the fact that he often did not speak to the president for several weeks at a time.

“I think the special relationship survives,” the Prime Minister said. “It’s increasingly strong, based on common interests and common values. I’m very glad I do get on so well with Barack Obama. We shouldn’t have to take its temperature all the time. Sometimes we can over-analyse how many phone calls and how many meetings, but I don’t look at it like that.”

and......

http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/hackgate-day-427-cameron-back-in-the-danger-zone-as-brooks-arrested-for-conspiracy-to-pervert-justice/

HACKGATE DAY 427: CAMERON BACK IN THE DANGER ZONE AS BROOKS ARRESTED FOR CONSPIRACY TO PERVERT JUSTICE

Fresh unease in the Conservative Party

Dawn raids NOT based on Newscorp derived evidence

Operation Weeting finally landed a big fish this morning with the arrest of Rebekah and Charlie Brooks by the Metropolitan Police. Four others were also charged. Significantly, although her initial collar-feeling experience last year was to do with conspiring to intercept telecoms, today the charge is understood to be conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Equally significant is that the arrest is not based in any way upon information supplied by Newscorp, as part of its ongoing attempt to toss the odd morsel to the wolves.

“One or two people are extremely alarmed by this development,” understated a senior backbench Tory MP this morning, “the horse incident reiterated the closeness between Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks. Now this. Some of us have always felt he [Cameron] should’ve played much more safe in his friendships since last year’s arrests.”

In the past few months, The Slog has received several confirmations – from both media and other sources – that Brooks and Cameron have continued to exchange texts regularly, while working assiduously not to be seen together. They are also rumoured still to have certain other recreational pursuits in common beyond horse-riding.

Another senior MSM contact last week gave me a run-down on the condition of the Prime Minister’s former press secretary Andy Coulson, describing him as drinking heavily, very badly depressed, and feeling “hung out to dry” by both his political and media bosses. I hear that this has been noted and filed for future reference by those around Tom Watson. I couldn’t find any Labour MPs to  buttonhole this morning, but a prominent regional organiser expressed the view that “the Party really does scent blood now. One Minister I’m close to is convinced that some of the Prime Minister’s previous statements are about to be contradicted on oath”.

I have said since last October that I feel Hackgate will, in the end, do for David Cameron. But whether it does or not, the matter of his involvement with this corrupt media organisation has suddenly become a red-hot issue again.

In many ways, it’s a pity this news broke on the same morning as Mario Draghi was caught fiddling The Greek Bailout that Isn’t Really. Tune in and see what you think. The Slog believes Athens is being set up….and March 23rd as a viable default date remains intact.