MPs are expected to call for a sweeping public inquiry into phone hacking, police failings and the future of Press regulation today after fresh claims of Fleet Street malpractice galvanised all parties in Westminster.
David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband all expressed horror at claims that a private investigator acting for the News of the World hacked the voicemail of Milly Dowler days after the murdered schoolgirl went missing.
The Commons will stage an emergency three-hour debate today on whether an inquiry into phone hacking should be established after John Bercow, the Speaker, used an obscure backbench petition to throw open the parliamentary timetable.
Although all three parties are divided along different lines over the issues surrounding hacking, many MPs are expected to call for a far-reaching inquiry. They will say that it should examine failings in the initial police investigation of hacking claims since 2006, and the future regulation of the press as well as how widespread phone hacking is across Fleet Street.
However, Downing Street made clear that it would resist such calls. Mr Cameron’s spokeswoman said that the priority was to allow police to continue with their current investigations.
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Ed Miliband led cross-party calls for an urgent inquiry that he said was necessary to get to the bottom of the hacking claims and to restore trust in British journalism. The Labour leader added that the latest hacking disclosures, if proved, were “so grotesque, so appalling, that the point has been reached when we must hope, expect and demand change in the culture and practices of British print journalism”.
Hardening his stance on the issue, Mr Miliband said it was up to senior executives at the News of the World and News International, which also publishes The Times, “to start taking responsibility for criminal activities over a sustained period”.
Mr Miliband’s intervention was tougher than anything he has said on phone hacking to date, a reflection of sentiment among Labour MPs and the way in which the claims over Milly’s voicemail have changed the political debate on the issue.
However, he disagreed with many Labour MPs who called for the proposed takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation, the parent company of News International, to be halted in light of the new allegations. Mr Miliband insisted that hacking claims at the News of the World should be regarded as distinct from BSkyB’s future.
Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg ruled out interfering with the bid, a process being overseen by Jeremy Hunt, because the Culture Secretary was performing a quasi-judicial role.
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The stance was supported by Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who was stripped of ministerial responsibility for the BSkyB takeover bid after being taped by undercover reporters from The Daily Telegraph saying that he had “declared war” on Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive officer of News Corporation.
Dr Cable said the revelations about hacking were “terrible” but distinct from decisions about media plurality.
Lord Fowler, the former Conservative Cabinet minister, said: “This is not a matter of party politics but of protecting the public and the only way that that can be done successfully is by an eventual independent inquiry looking at all the evidence.”
Mr Clegg’s refusal to countenance a swift inquiry was also challenged by senior Liberal Democrats. Baroness Williams of Crosby said an inquiry was needed to address the “considerable loss of trust, both in police inquiries and in the world of the Press Complaints Commission”.
Lord Fellowes, the Queen’s former private secretary and a crossbench peer, said that the Press Complaints Commission should either be placed on a statutory footing or wound up.
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Two influential backbench MPs, John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, supported the idea of a public inquiry but not before the police inquiry had run its course and any prosecutions been pursued.
Today’s debate in the House of Commons was triggered by Chris Bryant, the Labour MP and former Minister for Europe, who invoked Standing Order 24 to ask the Speaker to grant an emergency debate.
Mr Bryant said that the issues included “the pattern of lies and half-truths told to Parliament by the News of the World” and “the behaviour of the Metropolitan Police in whom we put our trust”. He added that a swift inquiry, led by a judge, should start now, “while memories are fresh and before people leave the scene or shred the evidence”.
Breaking news
Monday 4.30pm The Guardian website alleges that the phone belonging to Milly Dowler was hacked by the News of the World
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Yesterday, 8.30am David Cameron describes the alleged hacking as “truly dreadful”
11am Ed Miliband, below, calls for a public inquiry and says that Rebekah Brooks, NoW Editor at the time, should “consider her position”
12pm The Press Complaints Commission chairman says it was “misled” by the NoW during its inquiry into phone hacking
12.30pm Ms Brooks says in an e-mail to News International staff, it is “inconceivable” that she knew of the allegations at the time of Milly’s disappearance
3.30pm The Speaker grants a rare emergency Commons debate today into calls for a public inquiry
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4.45pm It emerges that the parents of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were contacted by police investigating claims of hacking
5.30pm Ford announces that it is withdrawing its advertising while the newspaper investigates the allegations
6pm The private investigator Glenn Mulcaire publicly apologises to those “hurt or upset” by his deeds
7.15pm Channel 4 News alleges that a Met detective was under surveillance by the NoW