Ten Questions to Ed Miliband about phone hacking and Tom Baldwin

By Tim Montgomerie
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(1) Why did Ed Miliband’s office send out an email to his top team in February 2011 (written by Tom Baldwin himself) saying “BSkyB bid and phone-tapping . . . these issues should not be linked”, yet today he is doing precisely that?

(More at the New Statesman).

(2) Having decided to attend Rupert Murdoch’s summer party only a few weeks ago, did Ed Miliband ask him or senior News International executives about phone hacking?

(More at The Guardian)

(3) When Ed Miliband hired Tom Baldwin to be his Director of Communications, did he ask him about his past journalistic practices, including whether he authorised or was part of efforts to break into Conservative Party bank accounts, as alleged by Lord Ashcroft?

(Lord Ashcroft on ConHome yesterday)

(4) There are no allegations that Tom Baldwin has been involved in phone hacking, but did Ed Miliband ask him when he hired him if he had been involved in the media practice of ‘blagging’? (i.e. using subterfuge and pretence to gain access to private or confidential information).

(Again, see Lord Ashcroft's Comment piece from yesterday)

(5) When Ed Miliband hired Tom Baldwin to be his head of media, did he ask him about allegations of his past misuse of Class A drugs?

(More from last December's Daily Mail)

(6) After the two reports from the Information Commissioner exposing the scale of the trade in personal and confidential data, why did the Labour Government of which Ed Miliband was a senior member fail to take any action?

(See this September 2009 report)

(7) In 2003 the DCMS Select Committee warned of a ‘catalogue of deplorable practices’ in the media and called for an investigation into journalists making payments to the police, what action did the Labour Government take at that time or since?

(DCMS Select Committee 2002-03 Fifth Report, “Privacy and Media Intrusion”)

(8) Does Ed Miliband think that John Prescott is right to be concerned by the appointment of Tom Baldwin as his director of communications?

(See Lord Prescott quoted in today's Daily Mail)

(9) Ben Bradshaw says that the Labour Cabinet – including Ed Miliband -discussed holding a public inquiry before the general election. Did Ed Miliband’s speak out on holding a public inquiry then, and if not, why not?

(From Thursday's LeftWatch)

(10)  Did Ed Miliband ask Tom Baldwin about his alleged role in efforts to illegally secure confidential information from the US Drug Enforcement Agency? In 1999 The Times paid a US DEA official, Jonathan Randel, £6,000 plus expenses for leaked information. Randel subsequently pleaded guilty to stealing confidential files and was sentenced to 12 months in jail. Tom Baldwin was one of the Times staff who first interviewed Toby Follett, who brought the leaked documents to the attention of The Times.

(See Lord Ashcroft's “Dirty Politics, Dirty Times”, and here in The Telegraph from 2003).