Ex-PM went to police about hacking
Source: Agencies |
January 24, 2011, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FORMER British prime minister Gordon Brown asked police last summer to investigate whether messages on his phone had been illegally intercepted, a source said yesterday, escalating a row that has embarrassed the government.
A long-running inquiry into claims that journalists intercepted messages on the phones of royalty, celebrities and politicians prompted the first resignation from Prime -Minister David Cameron's inner -circle on Friday.
His close adviser and media chief Andy Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World tabloid which is at the center of the probe, quit last week saying the focus on the case was preventing him from doing his job.
Coulson's departure prompted the opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to question the prime minister's judgment in hiring Coulson and standing by him as the -allegations widened.
Brown contacted police in London at least once to ask them to check whether his mobile phone was targeted while he was finance minister, but before he became prime minister in 2007, according to a report in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
"He did write a letter over the summer of 2010 to the Metropolitan Police," a source said, without giving further details about when and why Brown became suspicious.
Tony Blair's spokesman denied a further claim in the Independent on Sunday that he had also contacted police, saying Blair did not have a mobile phone when he was prime minister.
Coulson, who has denied all knowledge of phone hacking while he was editor, resigned from the News of the World in 2007 after one of his reporters was jailed for secretly listening to phone messages of royal household staff.
Hired five months later by -Cameron, he played an important role in helping to return the Conservatives to power in May after 13 years in opposition.
Coulson's resignation came at a sensitive time for the government and News Corp, which owns the News of the World. The media group is waiting to hear if the government will refer its planned US$12 billion buyout of satellite TV firm BSkyB to competition authorities. Police said last month there was not enough evidence to charge Coulson with any crime. Critics have accused the police of failing to investigate the allegations thoroughly.
A long-running inquiry into claims that journalists intercepted messages on the phones of royalty, celebrities and politicians prompted the first resignation from Prime -Minister David Cameron's inner -circle on Friday.
His close adviser and media chief Andy Coulson, a former editor of the News of the World tabloid which is at the center of the probe, quit last week saying the focus on the case was preventing him from doing his job.
Coulson's departure prompted the opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband to question the prime minister's judgment in hiring Coulson and standing by him as the -allegations widened.
Brown contacted police in London at least once to ask them to check whether his mobile phone was targeted while he was finance minister, but before he became prime minister in 2007, according to a report in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
"He did write a letter over the summer of 2010 to the Metropolitan Police," a source said, without giving further details about when and why Brown became suspicious.
Tony Blair's spokesman denied a further claim in the Independent on Sunday that he had also contacted police, saying Blair did not have a mobile phone when he was prime minister.
Coulson, who has denied all knowledge of phone hacking while he was editor, resigned from the News of the World in 2007 after one of his reporters was jailed for secretly listening to phone messages of royal household staff.
Hired five months later by -Cameron, he played an important role in helping to return the Conservatives to power in May after 13 years in opposition.
Coulson's resignation came at a sensitive time for the government and News Corp, which owns the News of the World. The media group is waiting to hear if the government will refer its planned US$12 billion buyout of satellite TV firm BSkyB to competition authorities. Police said last month there was not enough evidence to charge Coulson with any crime. Critics have accused the police of failing to investigate the allegations thoroughly.
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