Hoare was described by The Guardian's Nick Davies as "coming from a working-class background of solid Arsenal supporters, always voted Labour, defined himself specifically as a 'clause IV' socialist who still believed in public ownership of the means of production.

[13] In September 2010 Scotland Yard reopened its 2006 phone-hacking case[14] against News of the World and Andy Coulson, following a New York Times Magazine piece published that month in which Hoare told reporters Don Van Natta, Jo Becker and Graham Bowley that Coulson had "actively encouraged" him to hack phones.

"[7] Following his original statements for The New York Times and testimony before the police, Hoare re-entered the news in July 2011 when he and an anonymous colleague told reporters for the Times that British police had assisted reporters working for News of the World with cell-phone tracking, a power ordinarily used "for high-profile criminal cases and terrorism investigations," in exchange for bribes.

He explained the appearance of severe injuries to the Guardian reporters, saying he had been injured the previous weekend while taking down a marquee erected for a children's party.

He said he broke his nose and badly injured his foot when a relative accidentally struck him with a pole from the marquee.

Hoare failed to return phone calls to his home in the week after his dinner with New York Times reporters.

[26] According to an inquest into his death, alcoholism resulting from media interest in the phone hacking scandal caused irreversible damage to Hoare's liver.

[28][29] Bristol is an alcoholic, shambolic, and sleazy Sun reporter who, after being fired by Andy Coulson (Russell Tovey), tips off The Guardian about phone tapping at News International.