THE CONSERVATIVE/Lib-Dem coalition government in Britain is under pressure to call for an inquiry into the Metropolitan Police’s investigation of allegations that one of the UK’s biggest-selling tabloids routinely tapped the telephones of public figures.
The issue is potentially toxic for British prime minister David Cameron because his chief media adviser, Andy Coulson, was editor of the paper, the News of the World, and has already denied he knew of the conduct.
However, serving and former journalists in the paper interviewed over months by the New York Times have said the practice was “routine” and that Mr Coulson was involved at all times.
Former Labour home secretary Alan Johnson said he had pulled back from ordering an inquiry into the police investigation by the Inspectorate of Constabulary, following assurances from top police officers.
The allegation is that detectives focused on phone-tapping of senior royal figures, but ignored scores of other cases involving politicians and public figures in order not to damage relations with the Rupert Murdoch-controlled News International, which owns the News of the World.
Saying “there may now be a case” for an investigation, Mr Johnson said he intended to go back to the Home Office and review – as is his right as a former office-holder – the papers held on the case.
In a subsequent court case, one News of the Worldreporter and one private detective were jailed for phone-tapping, although it now emerges that another journalist was suspended earlier this year for similar conduct.
Former Labour deputy-prime minister John Prescott and an ex-Metropolitan Police officer are now threatening to go to the courts to demand a judicial review of the force’s investigation.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson was last night urged by Labour MP Tom Watson to answer the central allegation in the New York Times’ article: that information was withheld from the Crown Prosecution Service. “Your conduct of this matter is being scrutinised all over the world. So far, it is bringing shame – as has News International – on our country,” Mr Watson told the commissioner in a letter.
The controversy was not covered by News International titles in the UK during the course of yesterday, even though the issue featured on BBC headlines, the Guardian’s website and elsewhere.
Former Labour minister Chris Bryant, who was eventually told by police after six months of querying that he had been targeted by the News of the World, said there was "an orchard of corruption" at the tabloid. "I got in touch with my phone company and they said 'yes there were several attempts to get into your phone messages', but they were not sure whether they were successful," said Mr Bryant, who has also sought a judicial review.
Asked if Mr Coulson should quit Downing Street, Mr Bryant said: “Let me put it this way, if it had been Alastair Campbell I think every single Conservative MP would have been howling from the rooftops.”