george osborne is facing questions  over his relationship with andy coulson after claims he was paying back a  favour by helping the former news of the world editor get a job with  the tories a lawyer representing phone hacking  victims says the now defunct tabloid underplayed their coverage of sex  and drugs allegations against him in october 2005 six years ago the paper ran on its front page hotly  disputed claims from former prostitute and ex drug user natalie rowe  that the chancellor took cocaine in his early 20s, before he became an  mp mark lewis said mr coulson, editor of  the paper the time the story broke in october 2005, deliberately played  down the scandal in the leader column, effectively saving mr osborne’s  political career mr lewis told australian tv: 'the  editor at the time was andy coulson, and i think that's worth  remembering because of the future relationship that we have between the  conservative party, the prime minister and andy coulson' he added: 'andy coulson had done  george osborner a favour; perhaps it was time for george osborne to  reciprocate and do a favour back' but tory mps rounded on mr lewis, calling it a 'spurious' attempt to embarrass the chancellor with 'the wprst sort of smear' in the leader column the paper said mr  osborne was 'a young man when he found himself in a murky world', and  said it was up to the voters to judge at election time a lawyer representing natalie rowe claims andy coulson (left) was helped into his number 10 role by george osborne (right) because he was owed a 'favour' mr lewis said: ‘the decision on which  spin to give to the story by the editor of the news of the world  particularly was something that determined his future in politics ‘if it would have been written the other way it would have finished his career i’m sure’ in july, as the phone hacking scandal  broke, rebekah brooks, mr coulson's successor at the notw, told mps that  the chancellor had played a key role in his appointment as david  cameron's media adviser mark lewis, a solicitor who represents  many of the celebrities said to have had their voicemail messages  intercepted by the news of the world, was speaking after miss rowe  repeated the cocaine allegations on australian television she told abc’s pm programme she sold  her lurid story to the sunday mirror in 2005 and was surprised to see it  appear simultaneously in the news of the world, then edited by andy  coulson she and her lawyer claim the paper obtained the story by hacking her phone allegations: former escort girl natalie rowe claims that george osborne used to take cocaine with her  tory mps condemned mr lewis's latest claims as a spurious attempt to smear the chancellor patrick mercer said: ‘this is the  worst sort of smear, where an account that has previously been put to  bed is raised again on the back of other allegations ‘it is a vacuous attempt to breathe  life into an issue that has already died, by a lawyer who is clearly  looking for financial advantage’ mark field, another tory mp, said: ‘it  appears to be a rather spurious attempt to embarrass a senior minister  and link the government to the phone hacking scandal using the most  lurid of claims’ miss rowe is believed to have spoken  out abroad because of the legal difficulties in having such an interview  broadcast in this country she explained that in 2005, a picture  surfaced which showed mr osborne sitting alongside her when she was  working as a dominatrix known as ‘mistress pain’ the photograph was taken in a london  flat in about 1993 or 1994, when mr osborne was in his early 20s it has  been claimed previously that a line of a cocaine can be seen on the  table in front of them in her tv interview, miss  rowe, now in her mid 40s, claimed she was ‘more than just a friend’ of  mr osborne and insisted he had been a regular user of the class a drug a source close to mr osborne said it was ridiculous to claim that the chancellor had helped mr coulson come to work for the tories because he owed him a favour the source pointed out that it was all of two years later that the journalist joined the conservatives: ‘there’s nothing in it if there had been someone would have said something about it at the time’ although the picture was taken before mr osborne entered politics, it was published when he had taken centre stage in the conservative party as shadow chancellor only a few months earlier he had managed david cameron’s successful campaign to become tory party leader
rowe no10 andy coulson's mark lewis cameron natalie rowe's osborne
former prostitute's lawyer questions andy coulson's appointment as cameron's communication chief  mark lewis claims former notw editor was helped into no10 role by his paper's 'soft' coverage of story  osborne has repeatedly denied natalie rowe's claims about drug taking  miss rowe says she was victim of phone hacking 