Newspaper phone tap row: David Cameron backs Andy Coulson

Police are "urgently" investigating allegations of phone hacking by tabloid journalists. Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson announced that Assistant Commissioner John Yates is to "establish the facts" about claims that the News of the World hacked into mobile phones. Answering an emergency question in the Commons, Home Office Minister David Hanson assured MPs that officers are "urgently considering" serious allegations made in newspapers. The Guardian reported that News Group Newspapers - part of Rupert Murdoch's News International empire which publishes the News of the World, has paid out more than £1 million to settle cases that threatened to reveal evidence of its journalists' involvement in telephone hacking. MPs from all three parties including former deputy prime minister John Prescott and Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell were among the targets of the alleged phone taps, The Guardian said. It quoted sources saying police officers found evidence of News Group staff using private investigators to hack into "thousands" of phones. Mr Hanson said the original allegations of phone hacking dated back to 2006 and had led to convictions, but he added: "This morning there have been serious allegations that appeared in the newspapers, which clearly go much wider than the original case." Liberal Democrat Evan Harris, who demanded the emergency statement, said: "It will be extremely toxic for our democracy if vested interests are seen to be able to buy their way out, in some way, of the criminal justice system." Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson resigned after royal editor Clive Goodman was sentenced to four months in prison in January 2007 for plotting to hack into telephone messages belonging to royal aides. He is now employed as Tory leader David Cameron's director of communications, prompting questions from Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs about his suitability for the role. But Mr Cameron defended him, saying: "It's wrong for newspapers to breach people's privacy with no justification. That is why Andy Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World two-and-a-half years ago. "Of course I knew about that resignation before offering him the job. But I believe in giving people a second chance. As director of communications for the Conservatives, he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times."

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ITN | July 9, 2009

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