Gordon Brown's ex-spin doctor on phone hacking scandal
GORDON Brown’s former spin-doctor, Charlie Whelan – probably the only local to be a victim of the ‘News of the World’s’ phone-hacking – believes that the extent of the scandal will not have come as a big surprise to many in media and political circles.
Mr Whelan described it as an "occupational hazard", and said that it did not take a genius to figure out that his phone messages were being hacked into.
He suspects that many other well-known targets also had their suspicions, including his old boss.
But he said that reporters crossed the line when it emerged that relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the victims of the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London, as well as murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s family, had had their voicemail messages listened in to.
Mr Whelan said: "While some may say that politicians are fair game for phone hacking, and to an extent the ‘News of the World’ got away with hacking them and celebrities, the real scandal has been their hacking of others.
"I have never felt more disgusted at the Murdoch papers than when we found out that the families of bereaved soldiers had been hacked. And just when we thought there could be nothing worse, we learned that the families of the 7/7 victims had been targeted too."
He said: "In the long term, never again will politicians have to worry about sucking up to Rupert Murdoch. The days when ‘The Sun’ can boast that ‘It’s The Sun wot won it’ are well and truly over."
Mr Whelan is a trusted friend of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown who spoke on Monday of the considerable distress caused to him and his wife, Sarah, after details of their son, Fraser, having cystic fibrosis were published by ‘The Sun’.
Private investigators working for owners News International have been accused of attempting to access Mr Brown’s phone, medical records and bank account.
In a statement, the Browns said: "We are shocked by the scale of law-breaking and intrusion into our private lives."
Mr Whelan said he was not surprised by the scandal, having experienced the ‘News of the World’s’ antics at first hand, although he was speaking before the full extent of the alleged intrusion into Mr Brown’s life had come to light.
The spin doctor had been warned in one incident by friends in the tabloids that some papers employed "very dubious" methods of news-gathering, in particular hacking into phones and pagers, which they had described as an easy practice.
He recalled that the ‘News of the World’ had been chasing a story involving a temporary member of Mr Brown’s staff.
Mr Whelan said: "In order to protect her from the paper, I arranged to hide her in a London hotel, as the paper had journalists camped outside her house.
"I was told by a friend who worked on the paper to be careful not to leave messages on my phone or pager.
"Eventually I managed to get the woman out of the country without the ‘News of the World’ knowing, and told her not to contact me when she arrived.
"Unfortunately she forgot and paged me details of where she was in Sardinia. Within hours the ‘News of the World’ had a man out there and the photos they wanted. They had clearly been monitoring my messages."
He said he had also had to take precautions when the news pack was hunting him after he had been wrongly accused of leaking details of Peter Mandelson’s "dodgy" loan.
"I was warned by another pal that the papers had contacts working for the mobile phone companies and could track down where you were if it was turned on. I only used landlines and the hacks never found me."
Detectives have said that 4,000 people may have been victims of the hacking, and a host of new allegations are emerging day by day.
The ‘News of the World’ was published for the last time on Sunday after Rupert Murdoch’s media empire decided that Britain’s best-selling newspaper should be closed.
The demise of the 168-year-old newspaper, putting 200 jobs at risk, was the company’s attempt to draw a line under the scandal, but the strategy has not worked.
Employees are now out of work, while Rebekah Brooks, who edited both ‘The Sun’ and ‘The News of the World’ when the offences were allegedly committed, remains in her highly-paid position.
One reporter on the latter title told the ‘Strathy’ of the devastation of being laid off so unexpectedly: "I do not even have a clue how to hack a telephone," they said. "I never encountered anything like this in all my time here.
"Shoddy journalism by some rogue reporters has wrecked the reputation of the ‘News of the World’ and hard-working reporters who have given their lives to this newspaper.
"What I loved about this paper is that it exposed bad people doing bad things. That’s why I worked for them. It was my dream, and now it has gone.
"I feel like I am going through a grieving process. I lived and breathed the job. I am completely shocked that the paper has been closed down and I am out of work, along with other good people who had no knowledge about what has been going on elsewhere."
