PM gathers colleagues to show continuing support for former communications director, who quit amid phone hacking allegations
David Cameron said farewell to Andy Coulson as his Downing Street communications director at a small gathering in No 10 yesterday.
The prime minister, who was joined by some of Coulson's closest Downing Street colleagues, said what was described as a "quiet goodbye" 10 days after the former News of the World editor announced that he would stand down.
Downing Street sources said Cameron gathered a few colleagues together to show his continuing support for Coulson. No 10 is expected to organise a proper leaving party, which will be attended by Cameron.
One source said: "It was not a big leaving do. It was a quiet goodbye with the prime minister. There will be a night out with Andy when colleagues can give him a present."
Coulson ? who said on 21 January that he had decided to resign because the wave of allegations about illegal phone hacking meant he was unable to do his job ? will not receive severance pay, .
The prime minister's spokesman, who confirmed this morning that Coulson left Downing Street on Monday, said good progress was being made on finding a replacement.
Coulson resigned after deciding that the continuing allegations about phone hacking dating back to his time as the Sunday tabloid's editor had made it impossible to devote "110%" of his time to his job.
"When the spokesman needs a spokesman, it is time to move on," he said in his statement.
Downing Street insisted his resignation was not precipitated by any new evidence that would challenge his claim that he had no knowledge of phone hacking at the newspaper.
Coulson resigned as editor in 2007 after the jailing of Clive Goodman, the paper's former royal editor, and Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator used by the paper, for the hacking of Prince William's phone messages.
He insisted he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing when he resigned as editor and joined his former employers, News International, in blaming a "rogue reporter".
This line of defence has been challenged in recent weeks by court documents said to show that other executives were aware of the practice.
One executive, Ian Edmondson, was sacked after the News of the World passed on "significant new information" to the police.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/01/david-cameron-quiet-goodbye-andy-coulson
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