figure at the heart of the phone-hacking scandal was invited to a meeting in Downing Street after David Cameron became Prime Minister.
Neil Wallis visited the PM’s then communications chief Andy Coulson in No 10 at the end of May last year. Mr Wallis, nicknamed The Wolfman, was Mr Coulson’s deputy when he was editor of the News of the World.
The disclosure increased pressure on Mr Cameron, who was also facing questions over why Mr Coulson did not face rigorous security checks into his background.
Neil Wallis leaves Hammersmith police station after his arrest a week ago
A No 10 source admitted Mr Wallis, who was arrested last week on suspicion of conspiring to intercept mobile phone messages, had briefly visited Mr Coulson on May 26, three weeks after Mr Cameron arrived in Downing Street.
The exact nature of the visit is unknown, but the source said the meeting was likely to have been ‘social’ because the two men were good friends.
They added that Mr Cameron did not meet Mr Wallis during the visit.
The Tories also revealed that Mr Wallis was brought in to advise members of the public who appeared in one of the party’s election campaigns about how to deal with media attention. A spokesman said his advice was ‘informal and voluntary’.
Mr Wallis has become an increasingly controversial figure in the phone hacking scandal after it emerged that he had been hired as a PR consultant to the Metropolitan Police.
Difficult: David Cameron is still facing awkward questions about how he came to hire Andy Coulson
His links with Mr Coulson and the Tory party have proved awkward for Mr Cameron, who has been under fire over his decision to bring the former News of the World editor into the heart of Government.
And Labour turned up the heat on the PM by asking who had decided that Mr Coulson was granted only mid-level security clearance when he was appointed.
Mr Coulson’s successor Craig Oliver and his predecessors Alastair Campbell, Dave Hill and Michael Ellam, who did the same job for Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, were subjected to more rigorous checks which aim to uncover potentially damaging secrets in an employee’s background.
The checks would have involved a review of his personal finances and cross-examination by investigators of referees, who could include friends and family.
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