Praise for News of the World exec’s ‘Jewish ethics’

The former Archbishop of Canterbury today defended his friend Stuart Kuttner in court, praising his strong “Jewish ethics”.

Lord Carey of Clifton said the former News of the World managing editor, who is on trial for conspiring to hack phones at the defunct Sunday tabloid, is a “man of integrity”.

He added: “Mr Kuttner is a man of deep loyalty to his paper, wanted to do the best for it. He is a Jew, I’m not sure how much a practising Jew.

“He is a man whose Jewish ethics went through his life and echoed mine as a deeply Christian ethic.”

He said he and his wife “found a very strong friendship” with Kuttner and his wife, saying: “They did practise what they preached.”

Lord Carey said he met Kuttner after he approached media mogul Rupert Murdoch to publish a booklet in the NotW called Jesus 2000.

It was agreed that the booklet would run as a supplement in the paper.

Then after his retirement in 2002, Lord Carey said he and Kuttner worked together writing articles for the paper on moral and social issues.

He said: “I would not normally write for a newspaper. I did for the reason there was a vast circulation and also because I thought Stuart was and is a good man. He is a man of integrity.

“I thought his integrity and concern for young journalists showed through. There was no sense of bossiness.”