The moment the Guardian published its July 2009 story into the James Murdoch-authorised cover-up payments to Gordon Taylor and others, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, ordered a review of the original police investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World. That investigation didn't last very long. Within hours Assistant Commissioner John Yates popped up to announce that no further investigation was necessary. He added that the original inquiry had been very careful; that it had only identified a few victims of "tapping"; and the police had contacted "all" the cases where there was clear evidence that their phones might have been hacked. He specifically ruled out the possibility that John Prescott's phone was a victim. Mr Yates emphasised that the Yard's decisions at the time of the original investigation had been taken in close consultation with the then head of the Crown Prosecution Service, Ken Macdonald.
That statement was immensely useful to News International as it braced itself for the follow-up to the Guardian story by other journalists. The company was able to point to Mr Yates's remarks to suggest there was nothing new to report. NI gained further comfort from another former assistant commissioner, Andy Hayman, who by then was on the payroll, working for the Times. He wrote there was only evidence that "perhaps a handful" of phones had been tampered with. These dismissive statements by two senior officers undoubtedly let NI off the hook and might have discouraged other journalists from picking up the scent.
In a remarkable Sunday Telegraph interview, Mr Yates described his actions on the day as "pretty crap". Indeed he admitted: "I did not do a review." He conceded he had failed the victims of the NoW intrusion and that the Met's reputation had been extremely damaged by it all. Mr Yates knows that, during private meetings with the Guardian in the intervening period, we tried to convince him that his original statement was at error in both judgment and fact. So we welcome his belated admission of regret. It will be for a judicial inquiry to establish his and Mr Hayman's motivations and to challenge the latter on whether his employment by NI coloured his views in any way. Given that his role at the CPS will now be under scrutiny, it is surprising that Ken – now Lord – Macdonald should feel it appropriate to be retained by News International to advise them on their dealings with the police.
In other developments on Sunday the Sunday Times revealed the existence of an NI internal 2007 report which had uncovered that hacking was more widespread than previously admitted, and that money might have been paid by the NoW journalists to police. The document – described by an NI source as a "ticking time-bomb" – was not revealed to the police. A further BBC report said that NI's solicitors had found 300 emails suggesting criminal behaviour – but that these were not handed to the police until four years later, on 20 June. This pattern of deception, hush-money, concealment and foot-dragging was, in common parlance, a cover-up. The people at the top of the company at the relevant time were James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks, together with her predecessor, Les Hinton, who is currently running the Wall Street Journal.
It has now been announced that Ms Brooks will not, after all, be in charge of investigating herself. Which leaves Mr Murdoch in charge of the investigation of his own stewardship of the company. Many editorials are currently praising the notion of self-regulation – indeed, the final editorial of the NoW's last edition put in a last word for the doomed Press Complaints Commission, adding comically "self-regulation does work". James Murdoch is doing great harm to the future prospects of self-regulation by the way he has, over the past four years, presided over the cover-up at News International.