'Potty Cameron should never have hired Coulson'

Kelvin MacKenzie in today's Evening Standard: "Cameron had clearly gone quite potty. And the final proof that he was certifiable was his hiring of my friend Andy Coulson.

"I remember telling anybody who would listen that if I were Brown, every time Cameron stood up in the Commons he should arrange for mobile phones to ring on his side of the House.

"It would have killed Cameron. Nobody took me seriously. And then the phone hacking scandal erupted. Not a scandal of Rupert's making but the order went out from Cameron: stop the arse kissing and start the arse kicking.

"Not a backward glance from Cameron to a bloke he had so assiduously wooed for almost a decade. Simply, how can I - a ho-hum Tory leader who couldn't even win a general election in a recession against a turnip like Brown - avoid any fallout from the phone hacking?

"And the answer is this bloody inquiry chaired by Lord Leveson."

MacKenzie also reveals a converastion he had with Rupert Murdoch: "Rupert told me an incredible story. He was in his New York office on the day that The Sun decided to endorse Cameron for the next election.

"That day was important to Brown as his speech to the party faithful at the Labour Party conference would have been heavily reported in the papers. Of course the endorsement blew Brown's speech off the front page. That night a furious Brown called Murdoch and in Rupert's words: "Roared at me for 20 minutes." At the end Brown said: "You are trying to destroy me and my party. I will destroy you and your company."

"That endorsement on that day was a terrible error.I can't believe it was Rupert's idea. Strangely, he is quite a cautious man. Whoever made that decision should hang their head in shame. I point the finger at a management mixture of Rebekah and James Murdoch."