 Many of the witnesses called by Sheridan were members of Solidarity, his own party, including Hugh Kerr, Rosemary Byrne and Mike Gonzalez.He also called Andy Coulson, Downing Street director of communications and former "News of the World" editor, who denied that he had any knowledge of phone hacking at the "News of the World", or that he knew Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective at the centre of controversy.Tom Watson had briefed Sheridan's team about alleged phone hacking a few days earlier.