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| Officers removing items from the home of Andy Coulson, former media strategist for Prime Minister Cameron. |
A day after News Corp. tried to contain the cascading scandal by saying it would close the 168-year-old News of the World, Mr. Cameron's former chief communications strategist, Andy Coulson—editor of News of the World when much of the alleged wrongdoing took place—was arrested in connection with the phone-hacking case. Mr. Coulson didn't respond to a request to comment and his attorney couldn't be identified.
Mr. Coulson—who resigned under pressure from Downing Street in January—was taken into custody about an hour after his former boss, Mr. Cameron, appeared at a press conference to promise new government inquiries into media and police practices. The probes are fallout from the scandal involving the paper's use several years ago of private investigators to obtain personal information about celebrities, politicians and other public figures, most notably through breaking into mobile-phone voice mailboxes, a practice known as phone hacking.
The prime minister said all parties have much to answer for in creating a toxic British culture that finds politicians, reporters and police alternately using or skewering each other, depending on which is more convenient.
