Poor William Hague, you have to feel sorry for him really. Once upon a time he was the Conservative Party leader, a dream come true for the comprehensive schooled lad from Yorkshire. Now he’s having to fend off questions about his sexuality whilst leaking very private news of his wife’s miscarriages – where did it all go wrong?

The finger of blame can be squarely pointed at one man – Andy Coulson.

You see, the real story isn’t William Hague’s sexuality; ironic though it is to think of a man who opposed the repeal of Section 28 which bans the promotion of homosexuality in schools, as being gay himself. Nor is it the shameful spending of the tax payers money on a fourth special advisor for Mr Hague (one was cleverly put on the civil servants payroll to disguise the fact that she was a special advisor) who was under-qualified for the job and who was simply not needed. Mind you, Mr Hague is to be congratulated for saving the taxpayer some money for a second hotel room by kindly offering to share with his special, young, fit advisor. No, the real issue is neither of these things, interesting as they are. The real story lies with the man behind that controversial statement of Mr Hague’s.

Andy Coulson is the Conservative Party’s communications director. A man well-qualified for the job as he was editor of the News of the World from 2003 – 2007. A man who knows how the media work and think and who certainly would have known what the reaction would have been to such a statement as that given by William Hague.

Now far be it for me to suggest that the statement was all Mr Coulson’s idea, good heavens no! Mr Coulson is merely the PR advisor and would have seen the statement long before it reached the press. To Mr Coulson, it must have seemed like manna from heaven.

You see the name Andy Coulson may ring a bell. There was a reason he left the News of the World in 2007 and that was because of the phone tapping scandal that involved several leading politicians, footballers, celebrities and members of the royal family. The newspaper’s royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, was jailed for six months and Coulson conveniently resigned after denying any knowledge of what his staff were up to.

Coulson, in his new role, must have thought the scandal was buried and forgotten about but on the 1^stof September the New York Times made public an interview with a former news journalist from News of the World, Sean Hoare, who made fresh allegations about Mr Coulson’s involvement with the phone tapping scandal.

So what was Mr Coulson to do? The fresh allegations looked like they would soon make it to the British press, especially with Scotland Yard saying they would look into the allegations. By a joyous coincidence for Mr Coulson, that same day Christopher Myers resigned from his role as William Hague’s special advisor due to mounting speculation about his relationship with Mr Hague. The press were already onto the story, so what could the Tory Party communications director advise Mr Hague to do?

Out comes the controversial statement denying that he has had a homosexual relationship with Mr Myers or any man and detailing news of his wife’s miscarriages. The press had a field day, with many journalists and commentators calling the statement “extraordinary”. Indeed it was, meanwhile just under the surface bubbled the true tale of a very dodgy newspaper editor and his equally dodgy methods of gaining information.

Happily this tale of woe does have a happy ending. The news of the fresh allegations has not been buried, as Mr Coulson would have hoped, but is now being reported on by several broadsheet newspapers who realised that there was a juicier story underneath Mr Hague’s ill-advised statement.

Sorry Mr Coulson, there never is a good day to bury bad news is there?