David Cameron defended his handling on Monday of a corruption scandal around Rupert Murdoch’s media empire which has swept away Britain’s top police chief and raised questions about the prime minister’s own future. At a news conference in Pretoria, where he began what will be a curtailed visit to Africa, Cameron defended hiring former tabloid editor Andy Coulson, a figure at the centre of the scandal, as his spokesman. He rejected veiled criticism from the police chief, who quit after coming under fire for appointing Coulson’s former deputy as a media adviser to his force.
