Ooooh dear

There’s a cracking piece a bit too hidden away in today’s Independent on Sunday. It’s by ace hacking-basher James Hanning, and manages to stay just the right side of Carter F*ck while suggesting very clearly that wee Georgie Osborne is probably not the Messiah, but merely a very naughty boy.

Prostitute Natalie Rowe featured briefly in the 2005 news landscape after she was photographed a table with the man who now holds the post of Chancellor of the Exchequer. Intriguingly, also sur la table was a small mound of white powder. The Osborne camp insists the white stuff is salt. Others suggest otherwise.

However, the key thought to hold here is the recurring allegation that the News of the World editor at the time – one Andy Coulson – used his knowledge of the affair to both limit the potential damage to the rising Conservative Shadow Minister…and then wangle himself the key job as David Cameron’s media pa as a result of it.

The Hanning piece notes that Natalie Rowe’s interview with the Aussie BBC (the ABC network) is about to be aired – but that a UK broadcasting source asks, “Why put someone forward for a job, as Osborne did, when you know what a disservice they have done you?”

Nothing would surprise any of us about Newscorp’s sleazy grip on the British governmental process. But this IoS investigation does all of us a service, in that it rubbishes the idea of a squeaky clean George Osborne who knew nothing about the deep waters his friend David Cameron was treading. Indeed, it suggests that Ozzie and the Prozzie may be what helped get the Prime Minister into this mess in the first place.

Blackmail is a dirty word. But then, Newscorp is a very dirty organisation.

Follow the full story at The Slog’s devoted Hackgate page.