Scaffolding and doling out rope

Waiting for Murdoch

The gazebos and scaffolding have been erected since the early hours - scaffolding for journalists to stand on while in the building down the road, a handful of MPs eke out some rope and find out whether their star witnesses will hang themselves - or stay resolutely silent, opting instead for a PR disaster.

Behind us, a reporter from Australia. Behind him, another from the US, all interested in what Rupert and James Murdoch, then Rebekah Brooks will - or will not - say and what the UK's top policemen until a few days and hours ago will want to spell out as they bow out. A suspicious technician wanders past and wonders out loud where the presenter balancing everything on a foldaway picnic chair could be from. Yep, it's BBC Wales.

A quick chat with Mark Webber, formerly of the Sun Online - a Welsh speaker and a very nice man. What do you mean, that's not what you thought Sun journalists were like? What do Welsh media moguls look like, he asked? Come on, you must have a few! No champagne-fulled birthday parties chez Carwyn Jones to report, sadly - or is that gladly.

Ian Lucas MP wonders out loud where might be best to watch proceedings. It is, after all, a day where as he put it, "we will either learn very, very little or an awful lot". A trained lawyer himself, he'd be advising Rupert and James Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks to say as little as possible, then adds quietly that Rupert Murdoch's ego just might not allow him to stay silent.

The Prime Minister was now under "huge pressure" he argued. He must return "to answer a series of questions". Here's one: why is it not a resignation matter to take on Andy Coulson, formerly of the News of the World, as your press adviser when it is a resignation matter to take on Neil Wallis, formerly of the News of the World, as your press adviser? Sir Paul Stephenson has already gone. I didn't hear Mr Lucas call on Mr Cameron to go. The Labour line is that he must answer questions.

Over on Radio Cymru, Boris Johnson's adviser, Guto Harri, is heard making a clear distinction between the two cases. Only one, he argued, had been seen to hamper the work of those who'd appointed him and that was Neil Wallis, taken on by the Met. Two different cases, so it's right that there are two different outcomes.

Another "former" - the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock - has called on witnesses to be "candid and honest" in their responses when it comes to the judicial inquiry. Former prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown might have "valid submissions" to offer he suggests ... but as for him? His calls for tighter restrictions on media ownership (reiterated, apparently, today) made him an enemy of Rupert Murdoch. Instead of cosying up he took the route to what he calls an "incessant daily drip feed of antagonism."

"Don't suppose Kinnock really wants a censored press either" tweets David Jones MP in response. "He just gets carried away".

Everyone around us has a stab at identifying the key questions of the day. Why was Mr Wallis appointed and what was the advice he gave to the Met? What did Rebekah Brooks mean when she told News of the World journalists that there was so much worse to come? Why have out of court settlements already been paid? What does James Murdoch now know that he didn't know when last on the spot and when exactly did he find out that there was rather a lot he, apparently, didn't know?

Mr Lucas heads off with another question to ponder: is it already far too late to start queuing for a seat in the Wilson Room?