British finance minister, George 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
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.
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.'
Andy Coulson was apparently owed a favour...
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.
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'.
Allegations: Former escort girl Natalie Rowe claims that George Osborne used to take cocaine with her
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.
She said she joked how she would have all the dirty goods on him when he became prime minister.
When Miss Rowe met Mr Osborne, she was dating William Sinclair, a member of one of the country's biggest landowning families.
He and the future Chancellor were members of Oxford University's Bullingdon Club, a male-only institution with a reputation for heavy drinking and riotous behaviour.
When asked what Mr Osborne thought of her profession, Miss Rowe said: 'He was very intrigued. I initially kept it a secret from William. I mean they knew that I had an escort agency but they didn't know what I did.
'I'd left them at my apartment. When I got back they'd found the paddles and the whips, the chains and the handcuffs. But they found it quite amusing. And I said 'look, I like to dominate men.'
She said the party at which Mr Osborne was photographed was held to celebrate her becoming pregnant by Mr Sinclair.
She added: 'It was definitely cocaine on the table. George Osborne did cocaine on that night and not just on that night. He took it on a regular basis with me, with his friends, there were more witnesses, not just me.
Splash: The News of the World story in October 2005 featuring a picture of Natalie Rowe and the young George Osborne
She insisted she did not take drugs that night because she was carrying a child.
Mr Osborne's aides dismissed the claims about drug use, the link to Mr Coulson and pointed out inconsistencies in Miss Rowe's claims.
A spokesman for the Chancellor said: 'These are old allegations that were widely reported and denied years ago. There is nothing new.'
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.
'boys will be boys', right? What's a young man without some youthful rape, pillage, sex, drugs and rock and roll? Isn't this what helped make George Jr, here in the Sttates, the man he grew up to be... as president? Which seems to follow the path taken by another good ole boy, aka 'the first black president', Billy Clinton. It used to be alcohol, but drugs have gone uptown and down the back alley and the liquid variations just don't pack the punch for the new world order and all its minions. A new generation needs new drugs, and isn't the media's purpose in life to seek this sort of story and gossip and keep it on file for their friends? Just in case one of the gang of puppets think themselves masters of their own domain?