Neil Wallis Protests Too Much

Following his acquittal on the charge of conspiracy to hack phones, former Screws deputy editor Neil “Wolfman” Wallis has been doing the rounds of the broadcasters, telling how it was all some kind of politically inspired witch hunt, and stressing over and over again that a jury made up of twelve of his peers listened to all the evidence and decided that He Didn’t Do It. He must be getting through an awful lot of onions right now.

Some of the interviews went Wallis’ way as he succeeded in manoeuvring the discussion onto his favoured agenda. A chat with Evan Davis on Newsnight, however, did not develop necessarily to his advantage, and the outbreak of whining at the dastardly BBC having a presenter prepared to ask questions, rather than allow Wallis to answer his own, was not merely predictable, but all too revealing (you can see the Newsnight interview HERE).

Newsnight’s own Twitter feed captured Wallis’ favoured opening gambit: “For a long time the belief was that the phone hacking allegations was [sic] a Guardian, BBC story. It’s easy to know with hindsight”. Wallis was, and is, a journalist: the idea that he took that explanation at face value, given his position at the Screws, is amazing.

And the Wolfman could depend on his pals riding to his rescue, such as former Daily Star man Nigel Pauley, complaining “Newsnight didn’t seem interested in [Neil Wallis’] claims of politically motivated agenda by CPS, preferring to tread old ground … wonder why?” Old ground being to ask questions about why Wallis had been on trial, for instance. And by complete coincidence, another pundit used the same phrase.

Kath Raymond Hinton told “Good job [Neil Wallis] but who on earth briefed Evan? Old ground. Pity the story of political witch hunt untold”. Ms Raymond Hinton is married to former Murdoch retainer Les Hinton. Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks had wedding invites. Wallis was duly grateful: “Well, of course [BBC Newsnight], edited by ex-Guardian dep ed were fully paid-up part of the agenda”. Yeah, right.

There was more support: Sean O’Neill mused “Hmm [Evan Davis] doesn’t seem to like the jury’s acquittal of [Neil Wallis]”. I’m sure his being a Murdoch hack is also the purest of coincidences. The Wolfman was also grateful to him: “How dare they, eh? Why didn’t they listen to [BBC Newsnight] & do … their duty?” he sneered.

One observer still not convinced as Wallis was treated to a little softball by Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning was Stuart Glover: “On [BBC 5 Live] moments ago [Neil Wallis] expresses the usual journalist view that they should neither by regulated nor accountable to the law”. Quite.

The Screws, when Wallis was its deputy editor, was hacking phones on an industrial scale. Anybody and everybody there knew about it - except, seemingly, him. That shows a staggering lack of curiosity for a journalist. One can only conclude that, if Wallis really did not know it was going on, he was terminally incompetent.

And, as Detective Columbo might have said, one other thing. If Wallis thinks that the Guardian and BBC are working the CPS, perhaps he can explain the Fake Sheikh’s successes. And the Cook/Hames surveillance. And the Dowler voicemail. And the rest.