Why are 10 out of 45 of the Met’s PR and comms department drawn from the ranks of News International?
BBC News has raised the question of how appropriate it is that 10 members of the Metropolitan Police’s PR and communications staff formerly worked for News International – the company at the heart of the phone hacking scandal.
The fact that 10 out of the 45 staff were ex-News International emerged yesterday when Sir Paul Stephenson was being questioned by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee.
The issue is examined on the BBC’s news website by Dominic Casciani, its home affairs correspondent, who asks: “Is that unusual, given the size of Rupert Murdoch's newspaper business in the UK?”
Casciani says the issue boils down to two key points.
The first question related to how former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis was employed as a consultant.
The second related to who needed to know about that contract, and when, as the News of the World's hacking defence began to crumble.
He adds: “Starting with who needed to know, the first the public heard of Mr Wallis's contract with the Met was in the hours after his arrest. Neither the home secretary nor prime minister had prior knowledge, we are told.
“Sir Paul said to MPs on Tuesday he had no reason to tell the prime minister about Mr Wallis because, when he was employed in October 2009, he had not featured in the original hacking investigation.
“But the question from critics is whether there came a point when the force should have said something about Mr Wallis, not least because the PM had seen his own PR chief, Andy Coulson, quit and be subsequently arrested.”
Dick Fedorcio, the Met's director of public affairs, got a grilling from the committee when he did not say who had recommended Wallis as a consultant.
He went as far as denying it had been former News International chief executive and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks.
The PR chief stressed he relied on John Yates to carry out due diligence on Mr Wallis prior to offering the contract.
Fedorcio said he trusted Mr Yates's judgement in carrying out "a form of due diligence".
The PR chief's role in the affairs has already been referred to the police.