As the Conservative Party's director of communications, Coulson continued to be subjected to allegations that he was aware of the hacking of phones while serving as the editor of "News of the World". On 7 July 2009, John Prescott called on leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron to remove Coulson from his position, after "The Guardian" revealed further details about phone-hacking by the "News of the World". Cameron, though, defended Coulson on the morning of 9 July: "I believe in giving people a second chance. As director of communications for the Conservatives he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times."