20/07/2011 Newsnight Scotland

Tonight, today's extra session on phone hacking brought to an end a

parliamentary era of coalition government in which the SNP won a

majority at Hollyrood. As MPs pack up for holidays a day late we will

ask some of the new intake what they made of it. Parliament finally

rose today for the summer, a remarkable session, either by the

standards of post-election years. We had the spectacle of a coalition

government trying to hold itself together, a Labour Party trying to

reinvent itself under a new leader and the SNP won the first ever

majority of Hollywood. We will ask some of the new intake what it

means. First, some of the questions raised by an extraordinary year.

The question is that this house now The holidays are finally here. But

for MPs, phone hacking meant a rather than winding down the last

So as they get the chance to put their feet up, who is basking in

the sunshine? And who is finding We can't predict the future but

common sense would tell you that this is going to carry on. The

questions about the crucial issue will be Andy Coulson. If it turns

out he did know about the hacking Cameron has now said he will come

back and make a profuse apology. It then becomes a question of his

judgment. Cameron's appeal to the electorate is based on the idea

this man is a leader, has good judgment. He has built his

reputation on it, which will be eroded if it turns out he took the

word of this guy and did not check He has had a good scandal, no

question about it. It is fair to say he is now as popular as his

party, previously he was less popular according to the polls. He

has managed to get away from that. He has silenced grumblings within

his party about people saying he is not making an impact. He has now

made an impact. The bigger question for him is he has proven himself as

a good opposition leader, landed some serious rooms, but what is his

vision of government, we still do They are relevant when it comes to

the hacking story. -- irrelevant. It has taken the attention away

from them. Nick Clegg needs time to pass all the grumblings and the

bitterness over the last year internally to gradually seep away

and just maintain it. They cannot leave the coalition. It would be a

It is clear now that the Prince, and a sophisticated when it comes

to the difference between what is going on at Hollyrood and

Westminster. The mood music would be better for the SNP if you had a

Conservative administration going in bigger tip it is a simple

argument, why would you want to have a UK government run by a party

that has marginal support? -- because it is a simple argument.

how the events this summer changed the views of voters? Ipsos MORI

published a UK wide poll today. scandals have come and go. Public

opinion will bounce-back from scandals. With this one it is still

active so we do not know where the story will go from here. But at the

moment we would probably guess that this will pass at some stage, and

other issues will become more important in determining people's

perceptions of leaders and how they will vote in the future. We will

next see politicians at their party conferences. Wonder if the holidays

or make any of them change their tune and dippy flurry of scandal

will have melted away? -- and if that the flurry of scandal. We are

joined by a member of the SNP. Also, a backbench MP who has taken up the

Tory cause. In Edinburgh we have Fiona O'Donnell and the new Lib Dem

MP for Edinburgh West, Mike Crockart. I want to ask you what

you're made of events today. I guess you have the least close

interest in what happened. Do you think David Cameron is pretty much

-- has put himself in the clear. have a very keen interest in the

past fortnight. They have been fascinating. It is something

totally unique in Parliament. Today was interesting, there was a real

attempt to try to pin something on Cameron and Labour made a real

attempt to politicise this issue. I do not know who the winner is

deceiving. I know there has been a farce about the remarks from Jeremy

Hunt. We will wait to see if it takes us any further forward.

front page of the Scotsman says David Cameron's attempts to deflect

the situation with the Murdoch issue it was -- failed. They have

tried to work the story all evening. If there is any real significance

to it, time will tell. Their rights issues for the Conservatives in

this. The closeness for Cameron and Andy Coulson. In the past year

there were real questions to be answered. I think the public at the

stage where they are saying we have come so far with all of this, let's

now get down and deal with the issues, let's make sure the

judicial a quarry is properly resourced and does it work. --

inquiry. I you going to amaze me and say you do not think Cameron

did well? I think he did well. Labour's attempt to politicise the

event today flop because the public could see through it. You had Tony

Blair flying out to meet Rupert Murdoch, Gordon Brown throwing a

slumber party for Wendy Murdoch and Elisabeth Murdoch and it Rebekah

Wade, and eight Miliband being at a summer party, yet today he tried to

play politics -- Ed Miliband. But he should have admitted that his

party, the previous Labour government had as much fault in

terms of being too close to the media in all its guises and work

together with the coalition government to try to resolve the

issues through the inquiries, the police inquiry. I think there was a

tactical error that he made today. On the comment about Jeremy Hunt,

that is important, whatever David Cameron would have said to any

editor is irrelevant. Jeremy Hunt was not quoting a particular

conversation. Let me give you an example... If I were Prime Minister

and I meet an editor from News International newspapers and I say

we cannot talk about the BSkyB bid, then move on to another

conversation, does that mean we have actually talked about BSkyB,

or not? It is ridiculous to assume that the Prime Minister can have so

many meetings with different parts of News International Media and not

ever mention BSkyB in any conversation. Perhaps the most

telling criticism I saw of Ed Miliband's performance today was

that he misjudged it, he turned up and did lots of forensic

questioning, but all he had to do was turn up and say hello David

Cameron, where have you been? I have been here for a fortnight,

nice of you to finally turn up, and left it at that. He did not have to

win anything today, he had already won. I think Ed Miliband asked some

important questions today and David Cameron, on three occasions, failed

to answer the question as to whether or not he discussed the

BSkyB takeover with Rupert Murdoch. But politically, obviously there

are interesting questions about the nitty gritty of the News of the

World scandal, but the argument is politically that can be up to Tom

Watson and company. The job for Ed Miliband was to turn up and say

look, I have been like a leader and you have not. He distracted from

that by getting involved in this nitty gritty stuff, which he did

They do not agreed that he has been playing Hoy grab -- playing

politics. David Cameron is very compromised by his relationship

with Andy Coulson. I am curious as to what the Liberal Democrats have

as a strategy in this debate. It looks as if it is to pretend as

much as you possibly can that you are not really part of the

coalition with the Tories while still being part of the coalition

with the Tories. This is a pretext here. When we talk about this

particular issue of phone hacking, it is clear that the problem has

been cosy relationships not just between the Conservatives and News

International, it is not just one party problem but it is a cross

Conservatives and Labour. It has been going on for a large number of

years. Matthew Taylor first tried to get News International stopped

in 1994 Beira ferrying their pricing practices to their Trading

Commission. We had amendments to the Competition Bill in 1997 which

Labour took out the following year. There are lots of questions which

not just David Cameron need to answer. On a broader point, and at

least one Conservative MP raised it today, is there not a growing sense

amongst all view that while the politicians and journalists are

fascinated by this, the general public is getting bored with this.

The key about the Milly Dowler Seng but the fact that nothing else is

been discussed, they are getting tired of this? There is a definite

sadness here that the story is pushing everything else from the

news in Turley. I am curious, one of your colleagues said that people

in your constituency for example, people are annoyed about the Milly

Dowler thing, but they think things should move forward. A I used to

run a polling organisation and this is what they would call a Beltway

issue - like Washington. With the Milly Dowler and soldiers who have

risked their lives on they have of the nation, with their victims of

77, that is why the nation is outraged and it is right that we

take it seriously and debated and have a police inquiry but at the

same time, the nation, and my e- mail box is full about what is

happening with the euro-zone and the famine which is taking place in

a Horn of Africa at and the see politicians debating an issue over

and over again when they want to see closure on that and move on to

serious issues which affect their jobs and welfare. You were nodding

when I spoke to Fiona O'Donnell, do you agree about the performance of

Ed Miliband? All he needed to do was turn up and say that he had

made the running and leave it up in the air so that Andy Coulson hangs

around behind everything that handicap -- David Cameron does.

were spot-on. Today's speech by David Cameron was a rambling affair,

I lost the plot and did not have a clue what he was going on about.

Ali had to do was say he had shown leadership in the past few weeks. -

- all he had to do. The attempts to politicise it was the wrong thing

to do. Now we should let the judicial inquiry and the police

inquiry do their work. Let us get back to the normal political agenda.

Fiona O'Donnell, D think people in East Lothian are saying, we care

about Milly Donna -- Milly Dowler, but this is getting obsessional.

That is not what my Inbox is telling me. I am still receiving e-

mails from people who are praising Ed Miliband's leadership on this

issue and say they want answers. David Cameron says he is in touch

with people but on this issue he is not in touch with the public mood.

People were writing to me about this issue before the revelations

about the Milly Dowler. We have all they had won pole, which tells you

nothing, there has only been one poll since this started and it did

not show Labour was getting any benefits, it showed that the

Liberal Democrats were the only party to gain. I think it would be

interesting... The Liberal Democrats have not been listened to

in his coalition and ousted -- suspect David Cameron regrets not

listening to Nick Clegg's advice. It would be good to hear from them

what advice Nick Clegg offered the Prime Minister about appointments.

We are slightly running out of time. I want to get a sense from Olivia

about what do you think the lasting effect of this will be. -- from all

of you. What will the lasting political effect be in the next

parliamentary session? I think we need answers. I know we need

answers. What do you think the effect will be? It is causing

untold damage to the trust, not just to politicians but also the

press and police. I do not think people want a constant political

inquiry into S. I'll write. I said it had to be brief. Briefly. David

Cameron has done more in two weeks than the previous Labour government

in 13 years. The lasting effect is, like with the MP's expenses, we

will see a healthier relationship between the police, the media and

the public. I think this will be a cloud which hangs over David

Cameron. There are thousands of innocent people out there who are

still to learn about phone hacking of their phones. I think will was

see a more contrite press for a few months and then it will be business

as usual. Thank you all very much indeed. Now for a look at the front

pages. The Scotsman is talking about the BSkyB Stonewall smashed

by blunder. Not an elegant head line there. The Guardian says

Cameron spoke to murder executives about BSkyB bid. It says Coulson

was never given top security clearance. The Daily Mail says at