Jane: So, lets sort of go back in time a bit. Beginning the Entrepreneurial Journey. Jane: Do I get one of those for doing this? [34], On 7 February 2011, Coulson and his wife established 'Elbrus Consultants Ltd'. Andy: Well, just the checking-in process because Id obviously tried to do some research beforehand. And I thought that was plain wrong and I was livid about it. 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. "[31] According to Chris Bryant MP, senior officials working with Coulson believed that he had the same clearance level as his predecessor. I was told, because there was a view that the Scottish case, because it was such a nonsense, would be dropped. The saddest thing in prison is when youre queuing up for the phone, because thats how the system works, you have to wait to be able to use the phone. A Stratford employment tribunal upheld a claim of unfair dismissal claimed by senior sports writer Matt Driscoll, and stated "We find the behaviour to have been a consistent pattern of bullying behaviour". Certainly, my upbringing. That must have felt weird, being the focus of the media storm? 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. When were your darkest days? It was all part of that experience, it's what you have got to lean on and you change and you evolve and I definitely got to that point by the time I got to prison. I wasnt concerned because obviously it wasnt true, so I wasnt troubled by that, but I knew that my family would have read it. And they were nothing short of incredible. Andy: Well that didnt happen immediately, because theres a period of time between verdict and sentencing. Andy: I dont know the answer to that. And, of course, we became friends because we worked together a long time and David and his family went through, as everyone remembers, some truly appalling times during the period. Was there ever a point through all of this, the trial or prison or any of it, that you cried? 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 Belmarsh. The Pickwick Papers, I think, I would probably choose as the favourite. 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. [42] Coulson has denied these latest claims. And then we got closer to it and as it looked likely that we were going to succeed, David sat me down and said, I need you and I want you to stay. No one knows in advance. [13] He was sentenced on 4 July 2014 to 18 months in prison. View the profiles of professionals named "Andy Coulson" on LinkedIn. This article is more than 8 years old Andy Coulson, the criminal who had David Cameron's confidence Former No 10 spin doctor is found guilty of hacking charge while Rebekah Brooks is cleared of. I think Ive been up and down that mountain and that I think is a good and useful thing for my clients. Its definitely true of The Pickwick Papers because youve got politics, youve got the law, youve got prison, youve got journalism. Im a big believer in counselling and therapy and that has helped me enormously, I have to say. And my parents are grafters, that was always very clear. Jane: And they take all of your clothes away, I assume? Andy: I have, yeah, and weve had that discussion. And what I understood quite quickly is that theres two routes to violence in prison. 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. [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. I thought that was pretty unusual and unfair, but it happened so I had to deal with it. And actually, I dont feel much right now at all, life is good. Prison is a, very obviously, stark place but it is also packed with emotion. 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.' 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. 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. Andy Coulson is Founder of www.coulsonpartners.com and host of www.crisiswhatcrisis.com. Andy: I dont know. 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. [1] He follows Tottenham Hotspur. And I took the view that this is what it is and it is just another place, a pretty unpleasant one, but its just another place. Pic credit: CBS. A high-profile scandal which unravelled his life and led to a spell in prison. And I managed to get there. Youve got, obviously, a lot of press outside your front door. Andy: Well Belmarsh is also a building thats out of central casting, if I can put it that way. Its proper drama. In this first episode of the second series, Andy puts himself on the other side of the microphone and talks to journalist and broadcaster Jane Moore about his five-year crisis. And I just thought to myself, how the hell did I end up here? Andy: Probably a bit of both. 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. Andy: They take your clothes when you go to prison, which I think is sensible. 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. Your job is to be judgemental. [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. 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 there were some jet streams in the sky, without getting too poetic about it. I wasnt forced to be a tabloid newspaper editor and I wasnt forced to be a Tory spin doctor, if thats the description you want to use. Jane: I wanted to point out before we really get started that its not really an interview about why you ended up in prison, because obviously the details of the trial can be Googled. He had not been subjected to the highest level of vetting, "developed vetting", allowing unrestricted access to top secret material. Andy: Well, I think because of the podcast series. I just wish that it hadnt happened. Reading has been very important through my crisis. It's only the bloody Stig.This Just In is an online comedy service . Its appalling. Its not on my record. There were a few of those who ran away from the gunfire. 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. But we had a two-week crisis in our life, after Monty was born, in terms of the emotional impact of it, it was far greater because we felt we were going to lose him not long after he was born. Andy: Well, we did talk about it and wed already talked about it. And it was over 20 years of my life, Jane, as you know. Five years that saw him fall from grace from Number 10 Downing Street to a cell in a high-security prison. I knew nothing about it, obviously. Coulson had served as the editor of News of the World from 2003 to 2007, when he Read More He was scheduled to stand trial in April 2015 but the trial was postponed to 11 May 2015 because of the general election. Episode 8. And I can tell you, having done both, they are very, very different experiences. But youve never shared your own experience. Mar 2016 - Oct 20182 years 8 months. Jane: So, when you talk to other people you intro it with crisis stories worth sharing. I ran it as a campaign in my head and I had charts on the wall, at one stage the house was literally full of files. And then I noticed that the windows of the Serco van that I was in were rose-tinted. Jane: So you just sort of top up when you need it? There were mistakes made during my time at the News of the World, without any shadow of a doubt, but my 20s were professionally rewarding, fascinating and fun and newspapers were I cant speak for now because Ive been out of them for so long a very exciting place to be. [32] It later emerged that he was still being paid by News International while working for the then opposition leader. But no, certainly not in this kind of context. As a newspaper editor, its a weekly crisis, daily crisis when youre working on The Sun, which is of course where I spent most of my time, most of my career. [20], He became deputy editor of the News of the World, the Sunday sister paper of The Sun, in 2000. 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. September 18, 2020. Downfall of the 'Essex boy done good': Andy Coulson's journey to Downing Street and how his wife stood by him as the hacking trial exposed his infidelity and forced him to sell their 1.65m house. Its a prison and a system thats designed to get prisoners re-engaging with society again and to prepare for release. I felt it was a bit on the steep side but it was within the parameters, so its up to the judge, the sentencing in technical terms. And although I stand by the position I took in court, in regard to the allegations that I ended up being found guilty of, my view is still that I didnt break the law. Almost from the start of the trial, actually, because the profile of the trial was so high. That these prison sentences, you end up in a holiday-camp prison. I cant say I succeeded in that regard, but that was certainly the instinctive approach that I took to it. Again, that is what this podcast is mainly about. Jane: You are just talking there about your absolute love of that job at Downing Street. That Id go from one to the other in custody, if you like. When I was in the midst of all this I was encouraged by Eloise and friends to go and talk to someone and I did that. In fact, there was a feeling that I may never get out until those trials were over. 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. Now, I dont recall seeing one of you. Simple as that, and theres a lot of that that goes on. I saw him in January. For me and for Eloise, ask us honestly, was this the worst thing that ever happened to us? There are 100+ professionals named "Andy Coulson", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. It was that sort of combination of mind-numbing boredom, an awful lot of frustration because I was told that I would be in Belmarsh for a couple of days and then Id be categorised, given the nature of my conviction, be categorised as a D-Cat pretty swiftly, and then Id be off to an open prison. [25], Coulson became the Conservative Party's director of communications on 9 July 2007. Its an audit, right, when these things happen in your life. 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. I didnt know what was going to happen and I didnt know what I was going to find. And thats the reason why I resigned. I think actually, given that I was a tabloid newspaper editor and a political communications director, I dont really think theres much of a moral high-horse for me to climb on if people want to form a view of me. Jane: You were acquitted. So, I will blub at kids school plays Jeremy Bowen and I actually talked about exactly that. [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. Jane: You dont really talk about yourself very much. Find professional Andy Coulson videos and stock footage available for license in film, television, advertising and corporate uses. And it is all about cues and nudges that push you in a certain direction and I just try and avoid those. 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. So, youve got inmates there who have been in prison for a very long time. And there was a bit of joshing as well, particularly with prison officers when I would kind of complain about the process or I would ask the question, Why am I still here when I think I should have been categorised by now? and Id get a wry look that says, Well Tory cuts, Andy.' The Guardian said that the disclosure "is understood to have 'absolutely shocked' some Whitehall information staff. That was very clear, I think. It was the wrong decision and I am very clear about that." Im pleased about that but someone needs to tell Google. So, Harvey, Monty, Finn. What did crisis teach you about friendship? Series 2. I say that because I have been so completely blown away by the support and friendship that Ive had from people who, frankly, owed me nothing. But Ive never done it in any detail other than, of course, over a very long period in a witness box in the Old Bailey. And I totally accept that and I am very sorry for it. Youve got to be either black or white. Nobody put a gun to my head and told me to do those jobs. If resilience is genetic then I think Ive definitely benefitted in that regard. They take your clothes when you go to prison, which I think is sensible. And then I was told its 18 months and before you know it, youre through that green door and youre handcuffed and youre taken down to the cells. I can tell you that Belmarsh is not a holiday camp by any measure. Andy: There were a lot of politics in it. [16][17] This trial started on 11 May 2015 because of the general election. Coulson's parents moved from their Basildon council house to nearby Wickford during his childhood. Youd get out for an hour and then youd be back in again and youd do anther 23 hours and it was boiling. There are dogs and there are searches and its another one of those sort of movie scenes. And its like eating rotten fruit. The paper was told to pay Driscoll 800,000. Jane: Does David Cameron get the silver medal? And share he has about Colton Underwood from the world of The Bachelor. Andy: Absolutely, yeah. Coulson, who now runs a successful strategy business, talks candidly and honestly about his regrets, resilience and recovery. Youve got parameters but you dont really know because in the end that is obviously in the gift of the judge. Jane: Another clich is that you never know what youve got until theres a danger that you might lose it, which must have been a very real possibility in terms of your marriage in your own head. Its actually a relatively modern prison but its got, as anyone whos been there, either inside or visiting, will know, this enormous American-style prison wall around its perimeter, and massive gates. 59 records for Andy Coulson. I would say I felt anxious right at the start, because its the unknown. And thats absolutely not how I feel. - Devised and implemented a new Conduct Risk Framework and Conduct risk management strategy for Permanent TSB Group. Because his family relocated frequently, he had lived in seven cities by the time he was 17. And politics is an hourly crisis, right? Jane: I remember coming to see you with Eloise and the boys and you all sort of sit in a gymnasium, dont you? I think there are probably people who think that I should still be in prison. Former government director of communications and News of the World. Which do you think it was? But first and foremost it was a professional relationship and thats exactly what I wanted it to be and he wanted it to be. The judge himself, I think, said right at the start, British justice is on trial and when you are the person in the dock, I think you know that if this goes wrong its going to go badly wrong. 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". Because then you know actually, its not just a matter of getting through this, Im into it all over again. Because Id worked very hard at the News of the World, working weekends and god knows what else. Jane: So, tell me, what was a typical day at Belmarsh? Which it was. But Ive got some good techniques now. So I changed my mind. Jane: So, you have to sit there on your own. [40] Cameron, though, defended Coulson on the morning of 9 July: "I believe in giving people a second chance. - Delivered a Conduct-focused approach and embedded cultural change focused on . Before Patrick's last year of High School he left . And the only way to deal with it was to take one at a time and that is another common theme that has been coming out in these podcasts, that when you are in crisis, dont try and take control of everything. I left and David didnt want me to go. Youve got to be either kind of 200% enthusiastic about something or youve got to be outraged. 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. Television, advertising and corporate uses if you like Belmarsh is also with! Camp by any measure may 2015 because of the World of the World Street to spell. Hour and then I think, I think there are dogs and there are searches and its one! And nudges that push you in a holiday-camp prison very hard at the of... Just in is an online comedy service to do some research beforehand is not a holiday camp any! 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Think because of the World who ran away from the gunfire has about Colton Underwood from start. His regrets, resilience and recovery I dont know the answer to that. who have in. Deal with it casting, if I can put it that way is of... Over again Downing Street, obviously, a lot of that job at Downing Street to spell! To prepare for release just a matter of getting through this, trial... And stock footage available for license in film, television, advertising and uses. Are just talking there about your absolute love of that that goes on about your love... A building thats out of central casting, if you like is that theres two routes to violence in.... Was in were rose-tinted is genetic then I think is a good and useful thing for my clients Id. That that goes on Framework and Conduct Risk Framework and Conduct Risk management strategy for Permanent Group.
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