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Wednesday 20 July 2011

Parliament grills combative Cameron over phone-hacking scandal

London (CNN) -- Prime Minister David Cameron told British lawmakers during a heated session Wednesday that if he knew then what he knows now about his former communications director, former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, he would not have offered him the job.

Cameron faced more than 130 questions as he made an emergency statement to the House of Commons, where members of parliament grilled him over his relationships with those at the heart of a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World. That was Britain's largest Sunday newspaper until executives closed it abruptly amid a controversy that has riveted Britain and unfolded at a dizzying pace in the last two weeks.

Cameron's appearance in parliament grew so contentious that legislators were reminded at least twice to be quiet and let the prime minister have his say. It shifted the focus squarely to the political realm a day after dramatic testimony that focused on the actions of media executives.

News of the World journalists are accused of hacking the voice mail of potentially thousands of people -- including victims of crime and terror attacks -- and of paying bribes to police. The scandal has rattled the foundations of the British press, police and political establishments.

In the House of Commons, Cameron went on the attack as lawmakers repeatedly questioned him over his relationship with senior executives at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., whose British arm, News International, owns the now-defunct News of the World. He also faced sharp questions about his knowledge of the phone-hacking claims and his judgment in hiring Coulson.

The rowdy special session -- which is being followed by a general debate on the public confidence in media and the police -- came just hours after Parliament's Home Affairs committee issued a scathing report about the scandal.

Legislators said in the report that they "deplored" obstruction by News International when lawmakers first tried to probe accusations of illegal eavesdropping by journalists working for Murdoch. The report also criticized police for failing to investigate the case properly.

Questioned over his ties to those involved, Cameron denied having "inappropriate conversations" about Rupert Murdoch's efforts to take full ownership of British satellite broadcaster BSkyB in meetings with executives of News Corp.

Cameron also insisted that Coulson should be considered "innocent until proven guilty" of phone hacking or of hiding it while at News of the World. If Coulson lied about it, Cameron said, he should be prosecuted.

"I have said very clearly that if it turns out Andy Coulson knew about the hacking at the News of the World, he will not only have lied to me but he will have lied to the police, to a select committee, to the Press Complaints Commission and of course perjured himself in a court of law," Cameron said. "More to the point, if that comes to pass, he could also expect to face severe criminal charges."

The prime minister said if it turns out Coulson lied to him, "that would be a moment for a profound apology. And in that event, I can tell you I will not fall short."

Coulson, who resigned his government post in January, has since been arrested.

Opposition leader Ed Miliband said after Cameron's statement that the prime minister's decision to hire Coulson left him "hamstrung by a conflict of interests" when police began investigating allegations of illegal phone hacking by the News of the World.

Cameron in return sought to deflect the pressure on him by pointing the finger at the previous Labour government, saying it had done nothing to take responsibility for misconduct that occurred while it was in power.

The prime minister has formed a committee comprised of a range of civil rights campaigners and former top journalists, to take part in a wide-ranging inquiry into phone hacking and other illegal practices by journalists.

The "torrent of revelations and allegations" has shaken public trust in the media, in police and in politicians, Cameron told lawmakers. "People desperately want us to put a stop to the illegal practices," he said.

Above all, he said, members of the public want lawmakers to act on behalf of the victims of murder and terrorism, who have been forced to relive their experiences because of phone hacking, he said. The committee will be able to summon witnesses under oath, he said.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights group Liberty, will be one of the panel members of the judicial inquiry, Liberty confirmed Wednesday. She said her acceptance of the role was "a vote of confidence in the vital role of independent judicial process in times of national difficulty."

The Home Affairs committee's report released early Wednesday was critical of the role of News International, the police and ministers who failed to pursue concerns raised by previous investigations.

"We are astounded at the length of time it has taken for News International to cooperate with the police but we are appalled that this is advanced as a reason for failing to mount a robust investigation," it said.

The committee's report does not mention Murdoch, nor his son James, by name. James Murdoch is a top executive of News International, the British publishing subsidiary of News Corp.

Meanwhile, News Corp.'s Management and Standards Committee, set up in the wake of the scandal, announced Wednesday it has decided to terminate any arrangement to pay the legal fees of Glenn Mulcaire -- the private investigator at the center of the phone-hacking allegations -- with immediate effect.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard weighed in on the controversy Wednesday, saying the Australian arm of Murdoch's empire, News Ltd., had "hard questions" to answer.

"When there has been a major discussion overseas, when people have seen telephones hacked into, when people have seen individuals grieving have to deal with all of this, then I do think that causes us to ask some questions here in our country," Gillard said.

Rupert Murdoch e-mailed employees of News Corp. Tuesday to say he was "shocked and appalled" by the allegations of phone hacking and police bribery by journalists working for his News of the World tabloid.

"I have never tolerated the kind of behaviour that has been described over these past few weeks. It has no place at News Corporation," he wrote hours after testifying Tuesday with his son James before British lawmakers looking into the allegations.

Both Murdochs said they are not to blame in a scandal that has raised questions of how much top executives knew about illegal phone hacking and when.

News Corp.'s payment of Mulcaire's fees was an issue raised by members of a parliamentary committee who questioned the Murdochs Tuesday.

Testy exchanges peppered the nearly three-hour session, as the father and son were pressed for answers on who may have authorized or known of reporters' hacking of voice mails.

Asked by one lawmaker, "Do you accept that ultimately you are responsible for this whole fiasco?" Rupert Murdoch responded: "No."

After declaring it was "the most humble day of my life," the elder Murdoch let James Murdoch do most of the talking. When called upon, Rupert Murdoch indicated he knew little of the day-to-day details of his holdings and that he might hear more from a News of the World editor about extra soccer coverage than a payout to a phone-hacking victim.

Asked whether he had considered resigning, Rupert Murdoch replied: "No, because I feel that the people I trusted, I don't know at what level, let me down and I think they behaved disgracefully, betrayed the company and me, and it's for them to pay."

"I think that frankly I'm the best person to clear this up," he added.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee also heard from former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who had previously worked as the editor of News of the World. She testified she never paid a police officer or sanctioned a payment to the police. Journalists at the now-defunct News of the World are accused of bribing police to get private details about people, including members of the royal family.

Lawmakers seated at a horseshoe-shaped table quizzed the Murdochs about out-of-court settlements for phone-hacking victims and employee actions.

But it was an unexpected moment, well into the testimony, that was destined for video highlights.

A protester tossed a plate of light-blue shaving cream at Rupert Murdoch, 80, prompting a brief recess.

Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, who was seated behind him, jumped to her feet and smashed the attacker's hand with her own.

Britain is in an uproar over the scandal, which could have global implications. It began with the phone-hacking claims involving reporters from News of the World -- which led its parent company, News Corp., to shut down the paper -- and quickly broadened into allegations that journalists had paid police for confidential information.

While Rupert Murdoch said he could not know in any detail the actions of his 53,000 employees, committee member Tom Watson reminded the elder Murdoch several times that he is in charge of corporate governance -- the culture and policies of a business entity.

The elder Murdoch told the Parliament committee he has seen "no evidence" that victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States were the targets of phone hacking by his employees, and he does not believe it happened.

In the United States, FBI is investigating News Corp. over the claim, which was made by a British newspaper.

In his testimony, James Murdoch said he had "no knowledge" that Brooks and Les Hinton, another former News Corp. senior official -- both of whom have resigned in the past week -- knew of the extent of phone hacking at the News of the World.

Explaining why he had previously given inaccurate statements to the committee, James Murdoch said senior News Corp. officials had learned about the extent of phone hacking by their employees as a result of civil lawsuits against News of the World in late 2010.

He said those in charge were determined "both to put things right, make sure these things don't happen again, and to be the company that I know that we have always aspired to be."

Brooks said News International acted "quickly and decisively" to investigate internally when the extent of the phone hacking became clear and the company had passed the new information to the police.

Brooks said she was aware that News of the World used private detectives, and believed every national newspaper in the UK did the same. But she said she has never met Mulcaire, the private investigator accused of carrying out mass phone hacking for her paper, and did not hear his name until 2006.

Brooks was editor of the best-selling Sunday tabloid at the time of some of the most serious allegations against it.

She resigned July 15 over the scandal and was arrested and questioned by police two days later. Her lawyer, Steven Parkinson, said Monday his client is not guilty of any crime.

Murdoch's News Corp. encompasses Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and Harper Collins publishers in the United States. News International -- a British subsidiary of News Corp. -- owns the Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times in Britain

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