Coulson pay questions

PRIME Minister David Cameron faces “serious questions” over claims his former communications chief received several hundred thousand pounds from News International while he was employed by the Conservatives, Labour said today.

A series of severance payments were made to former News of the World editor Andy Coulson for several months after he began working for the Tories, according to the BBC.

The instalments totalled the full entitlement under his two-year contract at the now defunct tabloid, it was claimed.

A Conservative Party spokeswoman said: “Senior party officials have no knowledge of Andy Coulson’s severance arrangements.”