Chris Huhne speaks out over phone hacking

As I mentioned earlier today, Chris Huhne went somewhat further in his Independent on Sunday profile in making critical comments about Andy Coulson and the phone hacking allegations than the party’s rather bland official statement.

Huhne has now gone further in his criticisms of Andy Coulson, as the Financial Times reports:

A cabinet minister has sharply criticised Scotland Yard for accepting what he called News International’s “implausible” account of phone hacking at one of its tabloids, as it emerged that Gordon Brown had acted on fears that he was targeted.

Chris Huhne, the energy secretary, raised the political stakes in the illegal surveillance scandal by claiming the police failed to pursue fully the investigation even though the News of the World account was allegedly “not consistent” with the evidence…

Mr Huhne, a former journalist and the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman in opposition, said it was clear “the number of people being hacked was not consistent with it being one rogue reporter who happened to be the royal correspondent”. He added in a BBC interview: “It seemed to me totally implausible that this was limited to one journalist. And I was surprised that the police seem to have accepted that story.”

You can read the full Financial Times story here.