David Davis told the Commons last night…

“I think of AV as an anti-Carswell system.”

In giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Yates of the Yard has thrown a spanner into the Labour spin machine as it tries to keep the Coulson story going.  John Prescott has made a  song and dance of the fact his phone was “hacked” – a fact flatly denied by the police. He is not on the list of suspected victims. Prezza has been caught telling porkies…

If Prezza isn’t on it, claims by Chris Bryant are looking shaky, as are the rumours that Mandy and even Blair were on the list.  If this was true Guido would rather a newspaper was quick to spot the security flaws and not Iranian intelligence. The Labour Party are obviously so keen to make capital out of this issue that they aren’t going to let a pesky bit of truth get in the way. Though it’s funny the sudden change of heart that Alan Johnson has had. While he was Home Secretary he was adamant that there was no grounds for an inquiry and there was nothing he could do, yet he has taken a very different tone in opposition. Many wondered why Johnson didn’t run for leader and perhaps now, without such a great need to keep News International’s tabloids away, we might read why exactly Alan Johnson was so keen to avoid confrontation with Coulson’s former employers while in office.

Officially there is no vacancy. Officially Andy Coulson has the full support of the PM and the government machine. Officially he isn’t going anywhere. Unofficially last night was quite the flurry of activity.

He may not be going anywhere just yet, but the longer the BBC, Guardian and the Labour Party keep screaming, the more they wound Coulson as he becomes the story. The damage  is not just jeopardising his current job, but any future high earners he could move on to. So the feelers are going out and seem to centre on three key names…

There may not be an official vacancy, but that isn’t stopping Boris’s spinner and former BBC man Guto Harri putting his ear to the ground. he had been rumoured to be in talks with Welsh language channel S4C about their vacant CEO position, Guido hears that Welsh speaking Harri told them that if Coulson’s job became available he wouldn’t be in the running for the channel no one watches. Though some are worried where that would leave Boris with a re-election battle looming.

Another BBC man, James Lansdale, is also said to have given a nod of the head. This Old Etonian would slip easily into the Cameron circle and is greatly respected by his colleagues. Not that there is a vacancy of course.

Another name in the fray is, as ever, Ben Brogan. His Cameroon contacts are exemplary and second to none. Interestingly Mandrake, in Brogan’s own paper, was keen to keep him out of the runners and riders suggesting instead that Buckingham Palace’s Simon Walker is in the offing rather than their Deputy Editor. They also suggest George Pascoe-Watson, who is by all accounts happy with his new well-rewarded gig at Portland. Guido’s money is still on Coulson.

Guido has reflected on the shared culture and worldview of the Guardian and the BBC in the past;

The BBC is viewed by many right-wingers as the broadcasting arm of the Guardianistas. The Beeboids argue that this is unfair, and that the BBC is an unbiased, objective, public service broadcaster.

Yesterday the regular Guardian contributor Tim Montgomerie described the BBC as “Guardian TV“. Is this the ranting of right-wing blow-hards? No. The evidence is clear, via the excellent Biased BBC blog we learn that the BBC deliberately focuses recruitment advertising on the ranks of the Guardianistas.

Look at how it allocates the spending of hundreds of thousands of pounds on recruitment advertising:

When the BBC spends 86% of its recruitment advertising budget in the Guardian, we’re entitled to question the objectivity of the BBC’s editorial culture…

N.B. On a personal note, could BBC interviewers stop mistakenly introducing Guido as a “conservative”, if they do Guido will thank them for allowing him to appear on the left-wing BBC – as Nicky Campbell will tell you. Guido is a libertarian, not a conservative.