UK PM defends decision to appoint media chief

World

UK PM defends decision to appoint media chief

Close

UK PM David Cameron has defended his media chief in a stormy emergency session of parliament.

20 July,2011 09:50 pm

Cameron also made a public admission of regret over Britains phone-hacking scandal Wednesday, saying with hindsight he would not have hired a former tabloid editor as his media chief.Cameron defended his original decision to employ ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson, who quit Downing Street in January and was arrested this month over the scandal at the paper, since shut by Rupert Murdoch.Cameron has come under intense pressure over hiring of Coulson shortly after the journalist quit as editor of the News of the World in 2007 when the papers royal editor and a private investigator were jailed for hacking.The scandal has torn through Australian-born Murdochs News Corp. empire, which owned the News of the World, leading to the resignation of two of his top aides, Rebekah Brooks -- a friend of Cameron -- and Les Hinton.