Brooks And Murdochs May Be Quizzed By MPs

The News International (NI) chief executive, her News Corporation boss and his son, the NI chairman, could be questioned in Westminster next Tuesday.
MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport select committee want to ask Mrs Brooks about her knowledge of alleged payments to police, Labour politician Tom Watson said.
The committee also wants to quiz James Murdoch on his involvement "in authorising payments to silence" the Professional Footballers' Association boss Gordon Taylor after his phone was hacked, Mr Watson said.
The MP added that News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch owes the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler an apology after the News Of The World (NOTW) allegedly hacked her mobile after she was abducted.
A NI spokesperson said: "We have been made aware of the request from the CMS Committee to interview senior executives and will cooperate. We await the formal invitation."

(L-R) Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch

Meanwhile, the officer leading the current Metropolitan Police investigation into phone hacking has appeared before a separate committee of MPs.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, in charge of Operation Weeting, said officers had contacted around 170 people so far who may have had their phones hacked.
Almost 4,000 could have been targeted, she added.
The Home Affairs Select Committee also quizzed three other people - two former officers who headed the original 2006 inquiry, Peter Clarke and Andy Hayman, and Assistant Commissioner John Yates who decided not to re-open the investigation in 2009.
They were appearing to answer questions about why it took years for the full extent of the phone hacking scandal involving NOTW to come to light.
Mr Yates hit back at MPs' criticism of him, saying demands that he resign were "unfair".
He assessed the first inquiry into the practice for several hours in 2009, but ruled there was nothing further worth acting upon.
Since then, allegations that murder victim Milly Dowler, relatives of people killed in 7/7 and soldiers serving in Afghanistan were targeted have emerged.
Mr Yates suggested the NOTW "failed to co-operate" with police until the start of this year and laid the blame at the paper's door.
Asked by committee chairman Keith Vaz whether he had offered to stand down from his job, the senior officer said: "No, I haven't offered to resign.
"And if you're suggesting that I should resign for what NOTW has done and my very small part in it, I think that's probably unfair."
He expressed regret at his ruling two years ago that there was no need to re-open the 2006 investigation, where the NOTW's ex-royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed over phone hacking.
But Mr Yates insisted he had always told the truth to the committee.
And he said the Sunday tabloid "only recently provided information and evidence that clearly would have had a significant impact on the decision I took in 2009 had it been provided to us then".
Labour's Mr Vaz said his evidence had been "unconvincing". He told him: "There are more questions to be asked about what happened when you conducted this review.
"So you may well be hearing from us again. Please do not regard this as an end of the matter."
Mr Yates also revealed he was "99% certain" his phone had been hacked. The officer told the committee he believed his voicemail messages were illegally intercepted in 2005-06.
He admitted to the Sunday Telegraph last weekend that his 2009 decision not to re-open the inquiry was "pretty crap".
And he added it was a "matter of great regret" that the alleged hacking of Milly Dowler's phone was not discovered earlier.
The wave of revulsion the hacking claims over Milly and others provoked prompted parent company News International to shut the News Of The World, Britain's biggest-selling newspaper.
Two MPs have already demanded the resignation of Mr Yates amid accusations he repeatedly lied to parliament.
Labour's Chris Bryant told the Commons that Scotland Yard's most senior counter-terrorism officer was guilty of "repeatedly lying" to MPs.
Another of the party's MPs, Tom Watson, added that the officer's position was now "untenable" after he "misled Parliament".

The phone hacking saga would make an incredible film script: unscrupulous journalists, angry celebrities, money-grabbing police officers and the murky world of politics and power.

Read Sophy Ridge's blog on senior police officers under pressure

Ex-deputy assistant commissioner Peter Clarke, the Met's former counter-terrorism chief, was next to appear before the committee.
Mr Clarke, who oversaw the original investigation into phone hacking, said he had not trawled through about 11,000 pages of material because he could not justify the resources that would have been needed.
The documents were seized by police after the arrest of Goodman and Mulcaire, but Mr Clarke and his senior colleagues decided against an "exhaustive analysis" of the documents.
Mr Clarke also criticised News International for refusing to co-operate and said that was why the inquiry into the company could not be broadened out.
Former assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, who was in ultimate charge of the NOTW hacking investigation in 2006 was next to be quizzed.
Asked whether the original investigation had been a disaster, he said: "At the time everything possible that they were able to do, given the resources and the parameters they set, was done.
"What we look like now, it's very lame. I think what's happened is I think we've had more time to do it, more revelations have come out, the News of the World have given us material that we didn't have at the time."
He added: "It's not a disaster when two people pleaded guilty and went to prison."
More stories relating to the expanding phone hacking scandal
:: The Culture Secretary has announced he is to refer News Corp's bid for BSkyB to the Competition Commission.
:: Scotland Yard has accused News International of leaking details about alleged payments to corrupt police officers to divert attention from phone hacking.
:: Gordon Brown is "shocked" by allegations that his family's personal details were hacked by News International journalists, his office has said.

taken from http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/MPs-Set-To-Quiz-Senior-Police-Over-Phone-Hacking-Scandal-As-Top-Officer-John-Yates-Urged-To-Resign/Article/201107216028647?lpos=Politics_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_16028647_MPs_Set_To_Quiz_Senior_Police_Over_Phone-