News chief misled us on payments to police, claims MP

12 April 2012

The chief executive of News International was accused of misleading Parliament this afternoon as MPs used a three-hour emergency debate to press for a public inquiry.

They seized on a disclosure that the News of the World has handed over to police copies of documents that appear to show former editor Andy Coulson authorised a series of payments to police officers running to tens of thousands of pounds.

Chris Bryant, the campaigning Labour MP who triggered the debate, said it contradicted a recent letter sent by Rebekah Brooks to a select committee in which she tried to withdraw a previous admission that such payments had been made.

Mr Bryant was expected to tell the Commons that the statements did not add up and that only a full public inquiry, headed by a judge, could establish what happened. "There are so many scandals inter-meshed here that the only way to get to the truth is with a public inquiry," he said.

"The phones of the families of murder victims were hacked, police investigations were subverted, police officers were paid for information and lies were told to Parliament.

"And hanging over all of this is the disturbing
fact that for some mysterious reason the Metropolitan Police, who had all this information way back in 2006, refused or failed to investigate properly." Liberal Democrat MP Bob Russell, a former newspaperman, called for a boycott of the News of the World pending an inquiry.

The Prime Minister's spokeswoman today refused to call an immediate inquiry, saying: "A police investigation is the priority now and that should follow its full course." She refused to give any indication whether one might be announced later.

Mr Cameron stood by his statement made in January that Mr Coulson could be "extremely proud" of his role as former media adviser at No 10. His spokesman said he had not met Mrs Brooks socially since Christmas.

She was editor of the Sun in March 2003 when she admitted to the Commons culture committee: "We have paid the police for information in the past."

Mr Coulson, who had just taken over from her as editor of the News of the World, cut in to say: "We operate within the code and within the law and if there is a clear public interest then we will."

In April this year, Mrs Brooks tried to "clarify" what she had meant in a letter to the home affairs committee, in which she claimed she had been speaking in general terms about the newspaper industry, not her own title.

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