I will not, because I want to make some progress, but if I have any spare time, of course I will.
We gave warnings from 2009 that the fit and proper person test needed to be applied more robustly and that we needed to be aware of the abuse of positions. I just record that right up to last year's general election, and indeed to December 2010, my right hon. Friends the Deputy Prime Minister and for Twickenham (Vince Cable) assiduously made the case that there was something very rotten in the way in which we regulated the media industry.
The warnings from our party about Andy Coulson started in May 2009. They were made on record and off the record. We regret that they were not heeded, but the decision was not for us, but for the Prime Minister, and he explained it today. As a postscript, however, let me say that from all that I know, have read and have heard, Ed Llewellyn's role has been entirely beyond reproach throughout. I do not think that anything that he did or did not do can be regarded as inappropriate in the context of the investigations.
Public Confidence in the Media and Police
Proceeding contribution from
Simon Hughes
(Liberal Democrat)
in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 20 July 2011.
It occurred during Debate on Public Confidence in the Media and Police.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
531 c992 
Session
2010-12
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2023-12-15 17:45:08 +0000
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