Its that judgement thing again, you know. He thankfully survived and is perfectly fit and well now, but it was touch and go for a while and ask me those moments, you know, when your son is going into an operating theatre, compare that moment with the moment of going through the green door that I described; there is no comparison. Early life. Youre a state-school-educated Essex lad. So its just too easy, I think, either for him or for me to say, I wish it had never happened, because you make decisions in the moment. And then youre off and youre into the admission process which, again, is not especially pleasant, I have to say. Jane: You are just talking there about your absolute love of that job at Downing Street. Andy: Yeah, well Id had that for years by that stage and I think itd be grossly hypocritical for me to even begin to whinge about that, so I never had any issue with that at all. If you have a life sentence, if youve murdered someone, you will finish your sentence in a prison like Hollesley Bay. Jane: So you just sort of top up when you need it? 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. Why the Conservative machine turns a blind eye to racism, Memo to Labour: make local politics a national issue, If anti-semitism isnt challenged then the fight against racism is doomed, Netflixs endless cancellations signal the end of the prestige streaming TV era, The best holiday cottages for a stunning UK minibreak, Podcast episodes to make you more productive in 2023, Vivienne Westwood didn't just make British fashion she was British fashion, The 15 most anticipated TV series of 2023, from, Print copies & Digital access for only 1. And thats just not where I am. Getty Images offers exclusive rights-ready and premium royalty-free analog, HD, and 4K video of the highest quality. They used to say about the News of the World, the old marketing slogan for the News of the World was all human life is here and thats true of Dickens. Andy: No, I was acutely aware of that, having published so many of those pictures. Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC. Andy Coulson IBM z Specialist at IBM Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom 2K followers 500+ connections Join to connect IBM University of Wales, Cardiff About IBM Mainframe Systems and Security. And keep the smile on my face and move myself and my family forward every day, which is exactly what we do, its exactly our attitude. BirthName, Nickname, and Profession So first, let's take a look at some personal details of Andy, like name, nickname, and profession. Jane: Did you worry that it would come across as self-serving? And thats the reason why I resigned. I never asked for any favours at all from anyone, but what I didnt think was fair was for me to be treated differently. Andy: Well, I think because of the podcast series. [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. He commented about the News of the World allegations "I stand by what I've said about those events but when the spokesman needs a spokesman it's time to move on. Andy: It was boiling hot and it was a glorious summer, as I said. Explaining his ruling, Lord Burns said that for Coulson to be found guilty it was necessary for the Crown to prove that the allegedly untrue evidence he had given at the 2010 Sheridan trial had been relevant to the issues in it. 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. [44] And Clive Goodman, in a letter from 2007: "The practice was widely discussed in the daily editorial conference, until explicit reference to it was banned by the editor. The Coulson Brothers - Mills Brothers Medley -Bass Guitar & Vocals - Curt CoulsonLead Guitar & Vocals - Jack CoulsonKeyboards & Vocals - Otis CliftonDrums & . Andy: Oh, quite a lot. Then before I knew it I was standing on the landing and being put into a holding cell and then they told me Youre going to Suffolk, going to a place called Hollesley Bay.' Before Patrick's last year of High School he left . And there were some jet streams in the sky, without getting too poetic about it. - Delivered a Conduct-focused approach and embedded cultural change focused on . They were to work within the PCC code at all times". Former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson were having an affair for at least six years from the late 1990s, the phone-hacking trial has heard. And that is, I have to say, largely thanks to Eloise because shes, maybe well get on to it, the reason I got through is her. And the other, in the same way as I have just said that I got enormous enjoyment from the political job, there is also a danger that because my newspaper career ended so badly, that you, sort of, chuck out all the good stuff there. I was an editor of the News of the World for four years. 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. The way I choose to deal with it and the way Ive chosen to deal with it is be positive and go and build a business and employ some brilliant people, which I now do and go and work with a fantastic set of clients, which I do. How can I do that? [33], Prior to the jury handing down their verdict after Coulson's trial, Cameron issued a "full and frank" apology for hiring Coulson, saying "I am extremely sorry that I employed him. But youve never shared your own experience. This podcast is about a crisis and how you get through it. What was that like? Do you think thats fair? One you can have total control over, and that is: dont get into debt. The CPS said that witnesses interviewed by Metropolitan Police including those who had previously made allegations through media outlets had not been willing to provide admissible evidence. Its proper drama. Because youve not really spoken about that, have you? Diary Londoner's Diary: Truth surfaces about Damien's undersea world. Dublin. Andy Coulson is the former spokesman for No 10 who reached the highest levels of his profession - before coming crashing down as a result of the phone-hacking scandal. Andy: Yeah, my view was that they had absolutely every right to be at the end of my drive and they had every right to try and get a picture of me and I had every right to avoid it. Jane: So, lets sort of go back in time a bit. "[31] According to Chris Bryant MP, senior officials working with Coulson believed that he had the same clearance level as his predecessor. Ive got a better understanding of myself, I suppose, without wishing to get too airy-fairy about it. I like to think Im a better husband; I like to think Im a better father, a better friend. 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. I have apologised during the trial and Ill do it again now, here. I just think people deal with things in different ways. Jane: Do you feel a need to keep on apologising? 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. Andy: Well I think for most people, not all actually, but most people who go to prison it's the kind of beginning of the end because yes youre in a van, yes youre going to Belmarsh, but you know now you are on the road, actually, to the end. And I can tell you, having done both, they are very, very different experiences. Five years that saw him fall from grace from Number 10 Downing Street to a cell in a high-security prison. Jane: We now know, obviously, that you came through all of that, you served your time, the Scottish situation went away. I think it probably did. So your boys did come to Belmarsh? I think it is partly chemistry and I think its partly experience and I have got a lot of crisis experience from a professional point of view. So, until you are there for, as it turned out for me, a couple of weeks, a bit longer actually, youve got to wear this kind of corned-beef-coloured tracksuit, which is utterly charming. And I managed to get down just in time and before you know it youre off driving through the city and I just remember looking at the bright blue sky really. "Due to the unique nature of our shoreline, we have designed and constructed our own barges and tugs to accommodate services in landscaping, septic systems, demolition, and excavation,"says Arnie. But this kind of disconnection from family, whatever the circumstances, is just a fundamental negative. Various media stories estimated his salary at between 275,000[26] and 475,000; the party indicated the latter figure was "inaccurate" and that his salary was "substantially less" but refused to provide an exact figure. And Ive got to be honest with you, it was actually really interesting and quite rewarding work. There was a real kind of internal crisis, funnily enough, at Belmarsh at that moment. Therefore, the search process before you come in for a visit, as a visitor, is pretty unpleasant. I wasnt released on good behaviour, thats the system. Andy: Yeah, it is, it is hard. [9][10][11][12], In June 2014 at the Old Bailey, Coulson was found guilty of a charge of conspiracy to intercept voicemails (phone-hacking). The purpose of the company is not recorded by Companies House, but is reportedly a public relations agency. Certainly, when you find yourself in crisis and thats also, more importantly, just not how I see it. Dan Evans testified that even "the office cat" knew . That doesnt mean that Im pleased it happened, Im not. Which it was. Its a very long Victorian corridor full of very old Victorian cells in which there have been some very famous and very notorious criminals over the years. [6][7], Coulson was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Service on 8 July 2011 in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking. [60][61], Coulson was to face a retrial, together with the News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman, after the jury failed to agree a verdict on two other charges of conspiring to cause misconduct in public office in relation to the alleged purchase of confidential royal phone directories in 2005 from a palace police officer. Because then you know actually, its not just a matter of getting through this, Im into it all over again. Was there ever a point through all of this, the trial or prison or any of it, that you cried? What did crisis teach you about friendship? I was treated perfectly decently and fairly but its just something that you think to yourself, I cant quite believe this is happening to me. [37], In January 2016 Coulson launched a new corporate PR agency offering communications strategy services in partnership with Henry Chappell, Coulson Chappell. Its amazing. I think that we are all stronger for it. 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. Nobody put a gun to my head and told me to do those jobs. Without any shadow of a doubt, as a couple and as a family. Jane: And that was what, because of the dangers of drug smuggling? Because his family relocated frequently, he had lived in seven cities by the time he was 17. In January, a former News of the World journalist told the trial that his phone hacking skills were the main reason Coulson had hired him. 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. Jane: So how did you find out, or when did you find out that you were being moved? There were some fights, but never anything directed at me and nothing that caused me to feel scared in Belmarsh and certainly not when I got to Hollesley Bay, which was a different regime altogether. Now, a lot of women, I think, in particular listening to this would think, well we wouldnt blame her for just giving up on you after all of that, but she didnt. And so did that help in a way? And before I knew it, much sooner than I thought, there was sun coming through the windows and then, again, it sounds strange, I suspect, to some people, but I just found the whole thing so utterly absurd. Jane: So, tell me, what was a typical day at Belmarsh? And I thought to myself, Serco are rubbish at security but absolute bloody masters of irony. I dont need you take my advice but I do need you to listen to my advice. What I was reading, I disagreed with. [1] They have three children. I love a good book, both fiction and non-fiction. Jane: You were acquitted. Throughout his career Andy has been, as he puts it, poacher, gamekeeper and game - experiencing crisis from every angle. Andy: There were a lot of politics in it. And it was over 20 years of my life, Jane, as you know. I suppose because the thing was so public and had been so long running, Ellie and I took the view that we werent going to try and attempt to hide any of it from them. [1] He follows Tottenham Hotspur. That Id go from one to the other in custody, if you like. Certainly not for me. I saw some pretty unpleasant things. Andy: They take your clothes when you go to prison, which I think is sensible. 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. I mean, you've probably faced a few challenges in your life but an eight-month trial at the Old Bailey, followed by prison, is obviously another league. 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. Not given a reason why and that you should prepare yourself for spending your sentence here entirely. [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". Andy: I dont know the answer to that. Ask away. 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. 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. Now, she already knew about it, but having it made public was not easy, of course, and then you went to prison. September 18, 2020. Thats basically where you spend yourself emotionally as an editor, in between those two things. Because they, obviously, are the most important thing in my life, along with Eloise, and I wanted them to see that I was OK. Now, I dont recall seeing one of you. [14] Former government director of communications and News of the World. It turned out that all of my research and all the advice was entirely wrong and so a lot of the stuff that I took in, I had a radio, I took some books, all of that was gone, stamps were gone. So, I spot the signs and I know what to do and I know how to kind of avoid it. Andy: Yeah, definitely. So, actually, often there are these little small acts of kindness in prison, he didnt have to do it but he let me go to the phone and call Eloise and say that this things out there, but just be assured its total rubbish. I had proper moments of depression, without a shadow of a doubt, but I found ways of dealing with that and also I got a lot of help. Andy: I dont know. Do you still have dark days? And I thought that was very generous of them really. I wont ever be at peace with it, I suspect in one sense, because it hurts. I was pretty unhappy about being put through a public enquiry on television before I got to trial. We are all hard workers. And there are blokes there, for a whole range of reasons, who are trying to make sense of their lives again and who are disconnected from their families. And what I understood quite quickly is that theres two routes to violence in prison. I think there are probably people who think that I should still be in prison. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 52 years old? The key to it, I think, with therapy is you have got to find the right person. Andy: Well because Belmarsh is a high-security prison for a reason. Coulson's parents moved from their Basildon council house to nearby Wickford during his childhood. Its appalling. And thats, on any level, regardless of what that persons story might be, thats just sad. Andy: My sentence, having been found guilty of the crime, was probably about right. I dont think its something that you sort of say right, great, Ive done that, thats finished. [62], Coulson was charged with having committed perjury during the trial in 2010 of Tommy and Gail Sheridan. 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". And I could equally say, why on Earth did you do that, Andy? And then I noticed that the windows of the Serco van that I was in were rose-tinted. We talk about it and funnily enough they, it would be wrong to say that they laugh about it, but they found some aspects of it quite fascinating. But there are a whole bunch of mistakes from a leadership point of view, I was the boss. So I changed my mind. The work ethic amongst us all is very clear. There are a lot of very bad people in there and there are also a lot of people like me who are transiting, if you like. [14] On 30 June 2014, it was announced that he would face a retrial over two counts of conspiring to cause misconduct in public office in relation to the alleged purchase of confidential royal phone directories in 2005 from a palace police officer after the jury in the original trial was unable to reach a verdict on them. Jane: I remember coming to see you with Eloise and the boys and you all sort of sit in a gymnasium, dont you? And then the third thing would be what I actually send to every podcast guest, when its appropriate to do so. His brother and co-founder John Collison scored the highest-ever score received by a student for the Irish Leaving Certificate. Diary: Truth surfaces about Damien & # x27 ; s last year of High School he left wasnt. Guilty of the dangers of drug smuggling too poetic about it were a lot of politics in.! I should still be in prison crisis and thats also, more,! And Ive got to be honest with you, it is hard quite work. 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