Instant view: Resignation of UK leader's media chief

LONDON (Reuters) - The British prime minister's communications chief Andy Coulson resigned on Friday, as prosecutors stepped up inquiries into illegal phone hacking at a tabloid newspaper when he was editor.

Following are analysts' comments and political reaction to his decision:

PRIME MINISTER DAVID CAMERON

"I'm obviously very sorry to see him go because he did a very good job as director of communications both for the government and for the country. He ran the Downing St press office in a very professional and straightforward and correct way and I think has done some very good work but I understand why he wants to go -- the things that happened at the News of the World, the stories about that.

"Obviously he resigned at the time and I've always felt he's been punished for the same offence twice but I quite understand his decision and wish him well for the future."

(Asked if it raised questions about Cameron's judgment)

"I don't think so at all because Andy Coulson resigned from News of the World when he found out what was happening."

OPPOSITION Labor PARTY LEADER ED MILIBAND

"Labour has been saying for some months that there are real questions about Andy Coulson's ability to do his job given the cloud of allegations hanging over him. We think he should have gone earlier. He has now done the right thing. I think there are questions about David Cameron's judgment, about hanging on to him as long as he did."

TIM BALE, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

"It's obviously damaging because Andy Coulson was a very effective media operator so he is losing someone who was incredibly useful to the Cameron operation. It is also incredibly damaging because it questions Mr Cameron's judgment and that for a politician is one of the worst things you can possibly do. Being a politician is all about ... picking the right people to do the right job and the decision to appoint Andy Coulson was controversial in the first place and it's clearly a big, big judgment call that David Cameron has got wrong."

"I think Andy Coulson was somebody who could help the Conservative Party ... produce a message which was, if you like, 'pub ready', which resonated with ordinary people. It wasn't divorced from them in the way that a lot of very middle class politicians are."

STEVEN BARNETT, PROFESSOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, UNIVERSITY OF

WESTMINSTER

"It is all starting to unravel in a way that I think would make people in News Corp extremely nervous and I think Coulson has seen (future problems) coming down the road and he's getting out now.

"I think the resignation will take the heat off Cameron personally but it raises the profile of the hacking case at a time when the government and possibly the Competition Commission are examining suitability issues and the power of a large and enhanced media organization."

IVOR GABER, PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL JOURNALISM, CITY

UNIVERSITY, LONDON

"Andy Coulson's resignation is no surprise given the continuing revelations and pressures emanating from the enquiries into phone hacking.

"I think his position had become increasingly untenable. It is becoming a major distraction from what David Cameron is trying to achieve in terms of PR (public relations) and image. He was trying to create the 'we are not spin, we are squeaky clean (image).'"

"It would not be right to say this calls into question Cameron's judgment. The only thing it calls into question in terms of his judgment is perhaps he should have done this a long time ago. He has been prime minister now for nine months."

LANCE PRICE, FORMER Labor PARTY COMMUNICATIONS CHIEF

"He will leave a big hole within Downing St and everyone seems to think he has been a very effective director of communications. "He is a backroom man but it is still a very high profile position, a very important position and you can't do that if your credibility is being questioned.

"It's an enormously demanding job and you really can't do it if you are being distracted, as Andy Coulson undoubtedly is, by the pressures arising from the allegations about what was going on when he was editor of the News of the World.

"It will be a huge loss. I think that David Cameron has relied on Andy Coulson a great deal."