Cameron's statement

The Prime Minister said today:

"I am very sorry that Andy Coulson has decided to resign as my Director of Communications, although I understand that the continuing pressures on him and his family mean that he feels compelled to do so. Andy has told me that the focus on him was impeding his ability to do his job and was starting to prove a distraction for the Government.

"During his time working for me, Andy has carried out his role with complete professionalism. He has been a brilliant member of my team and has thrown himself at the job with skill and dedication. He can be extremely proud of the role he has played, including for the last eight months in Government.

I wish Andy all the very best for his future, which I am certain will be a successful one."

Chris Bryant takes a sauna with Lobbydog...

Lobbydog has been in Parliament long enough to know that it has a knack for the unexpected.

None the less, I admit being caught off guard when the gods of Westminster saw fit to end my day last night by dressing me in nothing more than a towel and putting me in an overly-heated sauna with Chris Bryant MP.

The unwritten law of the single sex sauna is “don’t look down”, though I tend to err on the side of caution and go for the ‘relax with eyes closed’ approach.

So when Bryant wandered in and struck up conversation my initial thought was – ‘good god, this man is going to ask me to slap him with a bunch of birch twigs’.

As it was however he was perfectly cordial, asking me what I did in the House. I supposed that if I told him I was a journalist, at best he might chide me for belonging to such a depraved profession and at worst, try and shove a rock of hot coal down my throat.

Honestly was the best policy I decided, and when I told him, the conversation quickly moved on to the Andy Coulson phone-hacking affair in which he was surprisingly forthcoming.

He predicted that it would end with Coulson’s dismissal and at least two further journalists in prison. I suspect Coulson would reply, “in your dreams Chris”.

Indeed as things stand now Bryant’s outcome sounded about as likely as me ending up semi naked in an unbearably hot room with an MP. Then again, in this place…

It can't be, it is....

“Please don’t be Gordon, please don’t be Gordon, please don’t be Gordon,” said the collective look on the faces of Labour MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions today.

Nick Clegg was about to reveal who the first person to call Andy Coulson was, after the then News of the World editor resigned over the phone-hacking scandal back in 2006.

While they’d hoped it was not Gordon who’d called Coulson to commiserate, comfort him and tell that he would one day have a “worthwhile” job – the irony – they knew deep down that it was him.

As one red MP later commented: “That’s so Gordon.”

It was the best moment in terms of theatre at PMQs, but obviously the more significant thing is that Speaker John Bercow said he would grant an emergency debate on the phone hacking scandal tomorrow.

Pressure mounts on Coulson. I’ll be there of course.

Vaz hacking inquiry

This is what Keith Vaz had to say as he launched the Home Affairs Select Committee's inquiry into the phone hacking scandal today.

"The evidence of Assistant Commissioner John Yates today raised a number questions of importance about the law on phone hacking, the way the police deal with such breaches of the law and the manner in which victims are informed of those breaches.

“I hope that this inquiry will clarify all these important areas."

In particular the Inquiry will focus on:

• The definition of the offences relating to unauthorised tapping or hacking in the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, and the ease of prosecuting such offences.
  
• The police response to such offences, especially the treatment of those whose communications have been intercepted.
  
• What the police are doing to control such offences.

These were basically the issues that were raised during the committee session earlier today.

You could tell Vaz wasn’t satisfied with the answers because he was doing that eyebrow thing. You know what I mean.

Believe it or not?

It was one of those slightly uncomfortable Lobby briefings this morning where the PM’s spokesman practically refused to answer the question that was put.

Pretty much the entire session focussed on the Andy Coulson phone-hacking story, which appeared in most national papers today.

Several hacks, led by the Guardian’s Andy Sparrow, were asking whether the PM believed Coulson’s claim that he knew nothing about phone-hacking that took place at the News of The World when he was editor.

The Downing Street spokesman said: “[Coulson] has denied the allegations and the Prime Minister accepts that.”

The ensuing exchange saw hacks point out that ‘accepting’ Coulson had made a denial was not the same as ‘believing’ it, yet the spokesman still declined to use the word ‘believe’.

The exchange finished with Sparrow observing out loud that the spokesman was refusing to say that the PM believed Coulson. Something the spokesman responded to by rolling out the stock response quoted above.

The spokesman would not say whether Coulson would be suspended if the Met were to re-open the investigation, but did say that while the force was considering things it wouldn’t be right for the Home Office to look at the way the Met had handled the initial inquiry. Handy.

Meanwhile he added that Coulson, who has now offered to speak to police officers, had definitely not offered his resignation up to this point.

At the moment the Head of Comms looks safe, but the Downing Street spokesman’s comments suggest the PM knows things can change.