Cameron’s not going anywhere

There are suggestions at Westminster that David Cameron's premiership is threatened by the Murdoch-Met scandal. But as is often the case, this conventional wisdom is misguided. Unless a smoking gun is unearthed, then he is safe—for now at least.

That position was reaffirmed today after an authoritative statement by the Prime Minister. Cameron outlined the terms of the judicial inquiry, which will be widened to incorporate police forces other than the Met, and media other than print. He outlined the membership of the inquiry’s panel, including the journalist George Jones, who is regarded as independent-minded, and Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, the civil liberties campaigning organisation. While praising the “vast majority” of police, the Prime Minister showed signs of getting the issue, which he openly called “police corruption.” He also called for a “fresh start,” by both Labour and the Conservatives, when it comes to the parties’ relations with the media.

On his own involvement, Cameron defended Andy Coulson, his chief of staff’s refusal of John Yates’s offer of “privileged information” about phone hacking. He said that if Andy Coulson was found to have “lied” about his involvement, then “that would be the time” for an apology.

Ed Miliband seized on this last point, saying that Cameron was “caught in a tragic conflict of interests” between those of the country and his friend Coulson. Miliband said that the “half apology” in “hindsight” was “not good enough.”

One issue remains troublesome for Cameron: the question of whether he discussed the BSkyB bid with Rebekah Brooks or James Murdoch during the Prime Minister’s frequent informal meetings with the News International executives. Ed Miliband made that his first question, but because this was not prime minister’s questions and was instead a lengthy response to a statement, Cameron was able to avoid a specific answer.

Ed Miliband is on the ascendant. He has been one step ahead of the Government on both shelving the BSkyB bid and on the recall of Parliament. His break with Labour’s links with the Murdoch empire has been bold and has almost certainly sealed his leadership for the remainder of the Parliament. But Cameron shows signs of beginning to understand the scale of the task of cleaning up both politicians’ relations with the Murdoch empire and a police force that remains unaccountable compared to any other public body in the UK.