Rebekah Brooks hires Bell Pottinger chairman David Wilson to handle media

Wilson has been appointed as Brooks’ official spokesman and will handle press enquires around the ongoing investigation into the phone hacking at the News of the World.

Wilson told PRWeek: 'I was called on Saturday by Rebekah's lawyer Stephen Parkinson (Kingsley Napley criminal litigation head) to make sure that her position is communicated clearly during a time that is obviously very traumatic for her.

'There's been no talk of the contract being long-term - although at the moment I am working fulltime in the role.'

Brooks was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption. She is the 10th person to be arrested in the phone-hacking investigation.

The arrest has thrown some doubt on whether Brooks will still agree to give evidence on Tuesday to the culture select committee's inquiry into allegations of phone-hacking at the News of the World.

Wilson said: ‘It's left Rebekah in a very difficult position and has left the committee in a very difficult position.’

Wilson previously worked with the PR team aiding Madeleine McCann's parents in the first weeks after her abduction.

Meanwhile, Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, resigned over links to former News of the World executive and Outside Organisation MD Neil Wallis, who was arrested last week.

Wallis had previously been hired to handle Stephenson's PR and over the weekend it emerged that the former Met Police commissioner spent a free five-week stay at spa resort Champneys earlier this year.

Outside Organisation won Champneys' PR account in late 2010.

This article was first published on prweek.com