Alastair Campbell once said you have eleven days to kill a story or you’re toast. The sustained effort to keep the Coulson story going might just be enough to push it over that mythical cut off point. The Indy’s Ian Birrell is a name floating around as a replacement. He was in the running to be Dave’s official spokesman and is known to be close to the PM. However, word reaches Guido, from usually reliable sources, that George Pascoe Watson – the former Sun man, now spinning at Portland PR, is sought after by some in Downing Street, potentially replacing one former Murdoch man with another. The problem is he is currently on over twice what the PM earns, so CCHQ might have to supplement the difference…

It was often said that Coulson was merely on loan from News International. What would he do if he did return to the fold? There would be a certain irony if he were dispatched across the Atlantic to oversee the Murdoch assault on the New York Times…