British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday called for an emergency session of parliament to brief lawmakers on the spreading telephone hacking scandal, trying to gain control of a crisis that is threatening Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, the upper echelons of London’s police force and the country’s leader himself.
Parliament was due to break for the summer today after lawmakers grill Murdoch, his son James and his former British chief executive Rebekah Brooks about the scandal, but Cameron said “it may well be right to have parliament meet on Wednesday so I can make a further statement.”
Cameron was speaking in Pretoria, South Africa, on the first day of a two-day visit to the continent. He had planned a longer trip, but cut it short as his government faces a growing number of questions about its relationship with the Murdoch empire and a scandal that has taken down some of Britain’s most powerful people with breathless speed.
In the latest twist in the legal saga, Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said yesterday it was giving “full consideration” to a request from a lawmaker that it open an investigation into Murdoch’s News Corp.
The office said any possible probe would be limited to News Corp activities in Britain, but it added that it is ready to assist authorities in the US, where the FBI has already opened an inquiry into whether Sept. 11 victims or their families were also hacking targets of News Corp journalists.
Cameron insisted his government had “taken very decisive action” by setting up a judge-led inquiry into wrongdoing at the newspaper and relations between politicians, the media and police.
“We have helped to ensure a large and properly resourced police investigation that can get to the bottom of what happened, and wrongdoing, and we have pretty much demonstrated complete transparency in terms of media contact,” Cameron said.
However, he is under pressure after the resignation of London police chief Paul Stephenson and the arrest on Sunday of Brooks — a friend of Cameron’s — on suspicion of hacking and police bribery.
Brooks was detained and questioned for nine hours on Sunday before being released on bail. Her lawyer yesterday released a defiant statement professing her innocence and claiming police face serious questions about her arrest. He said police would “have to give an account of their actions” considering “the enormous reputational damage” Brooks’ arrest had caused to the ultimate social and political insider.
Stephenson resigned on Sunday over his ties to a former News of the World executive editor who has been arrested over the scandal. In his resignation speech, Stephenson made pointed reference to Cameron’s hiring of Andy Coulson, a former editor of the shuttered tabloid who was arrested earlier this month over hacking.
Cameron said the situations of the government and the police were “completely different,” because allegations of police corruption “have had a direct bearing on public confidence into the police inquiry into the News of the World and indeed into the police themselves.” Other senior police officers are under fire, including Assistant Commissioner John Yates.
Brooks’ arrest was the latest blow for Murdoch, the once all-powerful figure courted by British politicians of all stripes.
Now Murdoch is struggling to tame the scandal, which has already destroyed News of the World, cost the jobs of Brooks and Wall Street Journal publisher Les Hinton and sunk the media baron’s dream of taking full control of a lucrative satellite broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting.
Brooks’ arrest had thrown into doubt her appearance today before the committee that also will quiz Rupert and James Murdoch.
However, her spokesman, David Wilson, said yesterday that she planned to attend.
Cameron’s office said he would be back in Britain tomorrow after visits to South Africa and Nigeria. He defended his decision to make the trip despite the hacking crisis.
“Just because you’re traveling to Africa doesn’t mean you suddenly lose contact with your office,” he said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was