Coulson, who now runs a successful strategy business, talks candidly and honestly about his regrets, resilience and recovery. But more that, my conviction is spent now, its gone. You have got to make a plan and youve got to focus on the things that youve got control of. [62], Coulson was charged with having committed perjury during the trial in 2010 of Tommy and Gail Sheridan. [27], After David Cameron became Prime Minister in May 2010, he appointed Coulson as Director of Communications for the government at 10 Downing Street. I guess well talk about that in a bit more detail. And my parents are grafters, that was always very clear. The two others, well one of them got dropped and one I was acquitted, but thats the system. And I was able, very quickly totally different approach, totally different kind of attitude, the governor there, his view was, weve got you for a while and were going to make the most of it. The judge added that it was for him, and not the jury, to decide on this aspect of the case and that the Crown's legal submissions had failed to satisfy him that Coulson's evidence had been sufficiently relevant to the Sheridan trial. Is that why you resigned? [28], Coulson announced his resignation on 21 January 2011. My biggest regret was the decision that I took to have my two oldest sons come and visit me in Belmarsh". 59 records for Andy Coulson. I didnt find it easy but Im glad, once we got to Hollesley Bay, Im very glad we did it. Youve got to be either kind of 200% enthusiastic about something or youve got to be outraged. The Pickwick Papers, I think, I would probably choose as the favourite. And even more delighted that there was a whole shelf of Dickens because I love a bit of Dickens. The judge actually criticised the timing of the statement and said he was unsure whether it was out of ignorance or deliberate. So thats how I spent quite a bit of my time there. So I actually had a little bit of time at home to be able to prepare, which I was very grateful for because that allowed me to talk to the kids and to talk to Eloise and get things sorted, get organised as best I could. And its going to be Groundhog Day and actually the consequences of that trial could be even worse in Scotland and then a whole load of politics attached to that and theres a whole load of new agendas. He had not been subjected to the highest level of vetting, "developed vetting", allowing unrestricted access to top secret material. Andy: You have to sit there on your own while the rest of your fellow inmates are with their families. Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has been released from prison after serving nearly five months in jail for conspiracy to hack phones. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? [15] Other defendants were cleared. Jane: And that was what, because of the dangers of drug smuggling? Coulson edited one of. Getty Images offers exclusive rights-ready and premium royalty-free analog, HD, and 4K video of the highest quality. And thats the reason why I resigned. Andy: They take your clothes when you go to prison, which I think is sensible. I accepted the verdict in the end, or rather its consequences I accepted. This podcast is about a crisis and how you get through it. Andy: Absolutely, yeah. I think on one level the answer was yes, because it was just so long. Six former members of staff from the now defunct. Jane: Did you attempt to draw perspective from other sources? Andy: I dont know about that, but when I went to work for David, funnily enough the whole friendship thing came up quite quickly because not long after Id started to work for him there was a moment when I picked up the newspaper on a Saturday morning and I was learning things that I didnt know about what David was going to do with regards to a trip, I think it was. That came not long after I arrived in Belmarsh and that was probably the worst moment. Jane: In his memoir, David Cameron wrote that he was wrong to insist that you were innocent until proven guilty and that he should have removed you in 2010 until the scandal snowballed. Andy: Well it came very suddenly. Does that tail occasionally whip round and hit you? And I managed to get there. Jane: So, there came a point where you thought, OK, I dont know how long Im going to be here. But youve never shared your own experience. What was the apex of your crisis, do you think? My brother was there and one of my best pals, Kris, and there was a lot of manly hugging and goodbyes. And funnily enough, the governor, or the duty governor, pulled me out of the cell one night to ask me whether or not I was OK because he had read the report. And Eloise, who is a considerably more evolved human being than I am, knew that long before I did and shes trained me well in that regard. And there were some jet streams in the sky, without getting too poetic about it. Its amazing. But thats the really easy answer to give, isnt it? Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 52 years old? So, youve got inmates there who have been in prison for a very long time. I am very sorry for the mistakes that I made at the News of the World. [1] They have three children. Youre a state-school-educated Essex lad. Andy: No, I was acutely aware of that, having published so many of those pictures. One of the principles of prison is that everyone has to be on the same level. Thats how I sort of see it really and thats how I see life. The most common refrain was Its not like the House of Commons, is it Andy?. We worked together for a long time. Weve made a lot of cups of tea for journalists standing on the end of our drive over the years, quite happily. Andy: Their choice really. Its an unnatural thing to do to relive your life and, by the way, if all you are doing is reliving your life through a negative prism, its a fundamentally unhealthy thing to do. That Id go from one to the other in custody, if you like. But pretty quickly I got my head around it and although we spent a lot of time behind the door there were also periods of time when youre allowed out to exercise, walking around a concrete yard. I was an editor of the News of the World for four years. Reading has been very important through my crisis. So, they made me an education orderly and I went and worked with a brilliant woman who runs the education programme at Hollesley Bay and I was effectively her teaching assistant, if you like. So ask me what my biggest regret is, I would absolutely say it was the decision that I took to have my two oldest sons, not Finn, come and visit me in Belmarsh, because it was only a couple of weeks after that visit that I got moved. I wont ever be at peace with it, I suspect in one sense, because it hurts. Jane: So how did you find out, or when did you find out that you were being moved? But there are a whole bunch of mistakes from a leadership point of view, I was the boss. But as I said in court, I made a lorry load of mistakes as an editor. So, when you came back after being found guilty and before going back to be sentenced, you had that time at home. I think thats been an enormous help. And prison is the ultimate leveller. Discover Andy Coulson's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. I use a guy who lives up in Scotland, Ron, who is just outstanding and I still talk to him from time to time now. I think people are due their opinion. Jane: Are you still friends? Journalist and broadcaster Jane Moore asked the questions for Coulsons new podcast series, Crisis What Crisis? Take control of what you actually have control over and, of course, the main thing that you have control over is your own mind-set and your own attitude. And I said, look Im going to do this for a while, I think its fascinating, I think it will be an amazing achievement to try and help him get into Number 10, but Im not going to stay. The Guardian said that the disclosure "is understood to have 'absolutely shocked' some Whitehall information staff. I love a good book, both fiction and non-fiction. Im a big believer in counselling and therapy and that has helped me enormously, I have to say. "[41], On 1 September 2010 The New York Times printed new allegations from former News of the World reporters alleging that Coulson had "actively encouraged" reporters to illegally intercept voicemail messages, and that he "was present during discussions about phone hacking". So, I knew at that point that Id be going to prison and that was obviously not where I thought my life would take me. Coulson married his wife, Eloise, in 2000. Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. [21], Coulson resigned on 26 January 2007 over the News of the World phone hacking affair which would several weeks later see the jailing for four months of the paper's Royal correspondent Clive Goodman. [13] He was sentenced on 4 July 2014 to 18 months in prison. And I have to say that we never had any problems. Nobody there wanted me to go. [36] Kate Robertson of One Young World told the Guardian "He can't do One Young World work at the moment, that is absolutely clear". So, I got a lot of that. Did you do a lot of that? [18] On 3 June 2015, he was cleared of those perjury charges, since, if he had lied, it would not have been relevant to the outcome. Did you ever feel scared? Lots of people were sending me books and I wasnt allowed to have them because they were, I thought rather ridiculously, banned at that stage by a former colleague of mine, Chris Grayling. When did you last speak to him? And I made mistakes in my personal life as well, and so Ive never at any point felt why me? about it because thats just not how I feel. Andy: Well its a mixture of things, I think, as it is for most people. Andy: My sentence, having been found guilty of the crime, was probably about right. And I thought, this is just hopeless, Im his Director of Communications and Im learning things in the paper. I got my head around it pretty quickly and what I kind of understood fairly swiftly is that the thing that should make you nervous about being in prison is violence, obviously. For me and for Eloise, ask us honestly, was this the worst thing that ever happened to us? [46][47], He was a witness in HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan, where he denied under oath that he had any knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World, or that he knew Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective at the centre of controversy. Jane: You dont really talk about yourself very much. Now, I dont recall seeing one of you. The paper was told to pay Driscoll 800,000. Andy: I have, yeah, and weve had that discussion. "[29][30], In July 2011 questions were raised about Coulson's security vetting at Number Ten. I think it was wrong. As every step forward you take, again without trying to get too poetic about it, that rucksack, which is how I see it, its a rucksack with a bunch of rocks in it and every six months or so it gets significantly lighter. Jane: I mean, two of those jobs there that you mentioned, the powerful jobs, obviously they do bring their own sort of sets of criticism with them. People treated us with respect and we did the same. [34], On 7 February 2011, Coulson and his wife established 'Elbrus Consultants Ltd'. I think woe is me are probably the three most useless words in any event. In the second extract from his new book Hack Attack, Nick Davies. [4][5] The overall impact from his tenure came to be known as the "Coulson effect". And I talked them through it and I explained that Id been found guilty and that Id be going to a prison and then Id be moved at some point to an open prison and then they could come and see me. Dont try and solve it all. What was that like? Jane: We talked a bit, obviously, there about family and knowing the value of your family. Jane: Because it had been quite a high-profile trial. - Devised and implemented a new Conduct Risk Framework and Conduct risk management strategy for Permanent TSB Group. In the same way, Jane, that I hope that people will not judge me entirely on my mistakes, Im not going to judge other people entirely on their mistakes. Andy: No, no, I had a bit of sarcasm, quite understandably really, a bit of joshing. But I never, at any point, felt that I was being treated worse than anyone else. I had plenty of offers and I just didnt. Andy: Well, losing people, like we all have. I was working with people from another party and we all made that work really well. I think Ive been up and down that mountain and that I think is a good and useful thing for my clients. Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, remunerated by the newspaper, was given a custodial sentence of six months. And when you see young men being separated from their families in that way, it is profoundly depressing. And so invariably youre stood behind another prisoner as he makes his call and the amount of times that that prisoner would then turn away from the phone with tears streaming down his face was frequent. Diary Londoner's Diary: Truth surfaces about Damien's undersea world. "[45], A report aired on Channel 4's Dispatches in October included remarks made by an unnamed source, said to have been a former senior journalist at the News of the World who worked alongside Coulson. [22], On 21 July 2009 Coulson appeared in front of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee and denied any knowledge of the phone hacking scandal, saying "my instructions to the staff were clear we did not use subterfuge of any kind unless there was a clear public interest in doing so. Big Brother 15 winner Andy Herren has never been shy about sharing his opinion on social media. Coulson was the editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking. But first and foremost it was a professional relationship and thats exactly what I wanted it to be and he wanted it to be. Andy Coulson, the former Downing Street Communications Director and News of the World editor, has given his first detailed interview about the scandal that ended, in 2014, with a spell in HMP. As director of communications for the Conservatives he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times. Coulson replaced Rebekah Wade as editor in 2003. In 1988, he moved to The Sun, working with Piers Morgan on the showbiz column Bizarre. A bemused local cabbie found himself sitting in the middle of a cornfield and off we went to the station. So, what are yours? Jane: As you say, its high security for a reason, because there are some pretty serious criminals in there. Eloise and the boys have to take the gold medal, if you like, for getting me through but there are a whole load who get the silver medal and Im very grateful for it. I knew nothing about it, obviously. I have to say, everyone through that process, the prison officers down in the cells at the Old Bailey, could not have been, frankly, more friendly. In an interview with the Press Gazette in 2005, he said that "Tabloid newspapers in this country do more for its people than any other newspapers in the world". I can tell you that Belmarsh is not a holiday camp by any measure. There were elements of my crisis that were entirely self-inflicted. That doesnt mean that Im pleased it happened, Im not. Journalist and political strategist, Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's reporters in relation to illegal phone-hacking. Prison is that everyone has to be on the same level have been in prison biggest regret was apex... So Ive never at any point felt why me that there was a lot of andy coulson brother hugging goodbyes... 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