Cameron to make statement to MPs on inquiry
An official said last night’s meeting between the party leaders had been “positive”, and they were “close to agreement on the nature of the inquiry”.
The premier also had a meeting with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson last night. Stephenson gave Cameron “assurances about the independence” of investigations into phone hacking, the source said.
Meanwhile, in the latest twist, News International has denied claims by Gordon Brown that illegal methods were used to obtain information about him
The former premier said yesterday he was “disgusted” by the conduct of its newspapers and accused them of having links to criminals.
The Sun denied accessing the medical records of former British prime minister Gordon Brown’s son, while The Sunday Times said it had not broken the law in a story about a flat bought by Brown.
Brown accused News International newspapers of accessing private information about himself and his family. He said he and his wife were “in tears” after being told by the Sun that it was going to publish a story about their son’s cystic fibrosis.
He told the BBC: “I think that what happened pretty early on in government is that the Sunday Times appear to have got access to my building society account, they got access to my legal files, there is some question mark about what happened to other files — documentation, tax and everything else.”
He went on: “I just can’t understand this — if I, with all the protection and all the defences and all the security that a chancellor of the Exchequer or a prime minister, am so vulnerable to unscrupulous tactics, to unlawful tactics, methods that have been used in the way we have found, what about the ordinary citizen?
“What about the person, like the family of Milly Dowler, who are in the most desperate of circumstances, the most difficult occasions in their lives, in huge grief and then they find that they are totally defenceless in this moment of greatest grief from people who are employing these ruthless tactics with links to known criminals.”
Brown said he could not think of any legitimate means by which the Sun could have got hold of details of his four-month- old son Fraser’s cystic fibrosis in 2006.
“They will have to explain themselves,” he said. “I can’t think of any way that the medical condition of a child can be put into the public arena legitimately unless the doctor makes a statement or the family makes a statement.
“I make no claims, but the fact of the matter is that I had my bank accounts broken into, I had my lawyers’ files effectively blagged, my tax returns went missing at one point.”
News International sources were quoted last night as saying they were “comfortable” that stories reported by the Sun about Brown’s children were obtained via legitimate means.
In a statement, News International said it noted the allegations about Brown, adding: “So that we can investigate these matters further, we ask that all information concerning these allegations is provided to us.”
Meanwhile, one of Britain’s top policemen, Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner John Yates, told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee that the News of the World “failed to co-operate” with police inquiries until the start of this year.
Yates also expressed regret at his 2009 ruling that there was no need to reopen the phone-hacking investigation.
Brown said he tried to secure a judicial inquiry into the conduct of News International while he was in power, but faced resistance from the police, Home Office and Cabinet Office.
He accused the company of seeking to abuse its power for political gain over issues such as the future of the BBC and the “neutering” of broadcasting regulator Ofcom, but insisted that as prime minister he had resisted it.
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