COULSON LEAVES NO 10

WHAT a day! Two top line resignations and a former prime minister on the back foot over a war. The departure of Alan Johnson, his replacement by Ed Balls and Tony Blair's defence on Iraq, will have to wait for another day because the sudden resignation of Andy Coulson from his job as David Cameron's Director of Communications is of greater immediate interest.

Coulson, former editor of the News of the World, has been under pressure since he claimed that he knew nothing of phone hacking being carried out by the newspaper's royal reporter who went to prison for the offence. Honourably, it seemed, Coulson took responsibility and resigned -- and was promptly given what last week Mr Cameron curiously called “a second chance” at 10 Downing Street. Since 2009, when Mr Coulson gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee, his position has become more and more difficult as the extent of the phone hacking by News of the World journalists has slowly been unearthed, mainly by The Guardian. The Metropolitan Police who at first weren't very interested have also begun to take action as several people in the public eye are asserting that their phones have been hacked. The odd thing is how a man who claims ignorance of what was happening at his newspaper could ever have been thought to be a suitable person for media relations at No 10.