The Press Complaints Commission inquiry may have found no new phone hacking evidence following Guardian revelations in July 2009, but speculation over phone tapping activities at News of the World just won’t go away.
The Independent on Sunday yesterday reported that the Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne had tabled a question in the House of Commons asking the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about the phone of the previous secretary of state, Tessa Jowell.
Mr Huhne’s question asks Ben Bradshaw, the current incumbent at the DCMS, “what discussions [his] predecessor had in 2006 with the Metropolitan Police regarding their inquiry into the hacking of her mobile telephone by Glenn Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World newspaper, and to inquire what assistance, if any, was given”. It builds on suspicions that illegal activity was more widespread at the paper than has hitherto been admitted. During the trial, the names of five other public figures were cited, but suspicions have persisted that the police had evidence of further hacking, including that of government ministers.