Phone-hacking connection is Chipping Norton's unwanted claim to fame | Media | The Guardian

Phone-hacking connection is Chipping Norton's unwanted claim to fame | Media | The Guardian

As the strains from the Chipping Norton Silver Band faded away, the writer and comedian Graeme Garden leapt on to the stage. "So, what do we think of being associated with the Chipping Norton set?" joked the Radio 4 panellist and founder member of The Goodies.

The crowd, gathered for the town's festival, looked rather bemused. "In favour?" asked Garden, the master of ceremonies. A couple of muted cheers. "Against?" Even feebler boos.

Indifferent, it seemed, was the answer from the hundreds gathered in the market square to celebrate their community. Last week's tumultuous developments in the phone-hacking scandal have put this West Oxfordshire market town firmly on the political map. In the scenic countryside that surrounds the town resides a powerful political and media elite. Dinner and garden parties bring together neighbours such as the prime minister, David Cameron, whose constituency home is just four miles from that of Rebekah Brooks, the beleaguered chief executive of News International.