Jumat, 21 Januari 2011

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Friday 21st January 2011 at 10.30pm on BBC 2
Presented by Stephanie Flanders



Here's Stephanie Flanders with details of tonight's programme:

"What did you know, and when did you know it?" It's the question that has dogged Andy Coulson - and his boss - since the former News of the World Editor became David Cameron's director of communications in 2007.

Explaining his resignation today, he said "when the spokesman needs a spokesman, it's time to move on".

Downing Street may have hoped that Tony Blair's return to the Chilcot inquiry would help take the spotlight off his departure. Not a bit of it. Westminster and Fleet Street can talk of little else.

Conspiracy theorists are wondering whether News International executives had a hand in his departure, eager to finally get the phone-tapping scandal off the front pages.

Questions are also swirling around the police investigation, and whether new evidence could leave Mr Coulson with fresh questions to answer. And what does it tell us about David Cameron's judgment, that he chose Mr Coulson in the first place, then held on to him for so long?

There are so many strands to this story, it's hard to know where to start. But we have the former News Corp executive, Andrew Neil and Lord (John) Prescott to help us tie them all up for you with a pretty bow at 10.30 tonight.

And then there's Tony Blair. In his memoirs he writes that he felt a mixture of "anger and anguish" when Sir John Chilcot asked him last year whether he had any regrets about the war in Iraq. We heard more anguish on that question today.

But for the rest, Mr Blair once again gave what is known in the trade as a robust account of himself. Has his second testimony taught us anything we didn't know about the war and the events leading up to it?

David Grossman will be doing the forensics, and I'll be discussing them live with the former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ming Campbell, and Lord Falconer, Tony's Blair's old friend and former lord chancellor.

And that's all we have time for. In the space of 24 hours, Tony Blair has (almost) said sorry about Iraq and two key figures from the frontline of British politics have resigned. Who ever said Friday was a quiet day in Westminster?!

Join me at 10.30pm on BBC Two.

Stephanie

You can get more news and chat about the programme on Twitter (don't forget to use the hashtag #newsnight) and on Facebook.




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