Hacking verdict: Ed Balls and George Osborne on Coulson

The shadow chancellor told MPs in the Commons about Andy Coulson's guilty verdicts, and he accused David Cameron of a "terrible error of judgement" for employing him.

The Speaker initially tried to silence Ed Balls, querying the relevance of the phone hacking trial to Treasury Questions.

Mr Balls then accused George Osborne of bringing the office of Chancellor into disrepute by urging the prime minister to employ the former News of the World editor as his director of communications.

Mr Osborne said he would study the verdict, before any statement would come from him or the prime minister.