British PM’s media chief interviewed by police

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David Cameron’s media chief has been interviewed by police over allegations he encouraged reporters to hack telephones during his previous role as a tabloid newspaper editor.

Communications director Andy Coulson voluntarily met officers investigating claims journalists on the mass-selling News of the World (NoW) paper had illegally intercepted phone messages to get stories, Cameron’s office said yesterday.

A Downing Street spokesman said he enjoyed the full support of Cameron but the opposition Labour Party said it was time Coulson’s future was reconsidered.

“Andy Coulson voluntarily attended a meeting with Metropolitan Police officers on Thursday morning at a [lawyer’s] office in London,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

“Mr Coulson, who first offered to meet the police two months ago, was interviewed as a witness and was not cautioned or arrested.”

Coulson quit in 2007 as editor of NoW, Britain’s highest circulation newspaper and part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp stable. Cameron, who took office in May, hired him as one of his most senior aides the same year.