British Prime Minister David Cameron under fire in News Corp. phone-hacking scandal

LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron came under intense fire Wednesday for his ties to journalists tainted by an escalating phone-hacking scandal, even as he proposed an extraordinary independent inquiry that could redefine the freewheeling rules of engagement between the press and politicians in Britain.

The scandal — in which thousands of victims including celebrities, members of the royal family and ordinary British citizens allegedly had their phones illegally hacked by journalists working for Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid — has severely damaged the operations of the paper’s parent company, News Corp. On Wednesday, the company was forced to withdraw its $12 billion bid to take full control of the lucrative British Sky Broadcasting Corp.

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A ninth person has been arrested in the "News of the World" phone hacking scandal and the British Government Committee has issued a summons for Rupert and James Murdoch. (July 14)

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But the affair has also sullied Cameron, whose close personal ties to News Corp. executives dogged him in Parliament on Wednesday, presenting his Conservative-led coalition government with its most severe test since it came to power 14 months ago.

A sure-footed politician with a tongue sharpened by years of parliamentary sparring, Cameron, 44, is suddenly on the defensive. He confronted a chorus of boos Wednesday from the opposition Labor Party, whose 41-year-old leader, Ed Miliband, appears to have found his voice by seizing on the scandal.

Miliband blasted Cameron for hiring Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor arrested last week in connection with the scandal, as his communications director. He demanded that Cameron release additional details about information his office received about Coulson before hiring him, referring to accounts given to Cameron aides by the Guardian newspaper. The opposition also pressed Cameron to agree to appear before an independent inquiry if called.

“Most of all,” Miliband said, “he should apologize for the catastrophic error of judgment he made in hiring Andy Coulson.”

Cameron has also come under fire for his ties to Rebekah Brooks, the embattled chief executive of News Corp.’s British division, News International, and former chief of News of the World from 2000 to 2003, when phone-hacking incidents allegedly took place. The two own rural homes within miles of one other and have gone horseback riding together. This past Christmas, Brooks entertained Cameron at a get-together at her home, according to British media reports.

Cameron and Brooks form what the media here call the “Chipping Norton set,” named after the area where they live, about 75 miles northwest of London. The set also includes another Cameron neighbor, Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, as well as her partner, the influential British PR guru Matthew Freud.

Cameron, who trod cautiously at first in condemning friends, appeared to break with them more clearly Wednesday. Using his strongest language yet, he said Brooks — who has reportedly offered her resignation, which Murdoch has not accepted — should step down. Brooks and Coulson have denied any knowledge of illegal newsgathering.

“She was right to resign. That resignation should have been accepted,” Cameron said in the House of Commons. “There needs to be root and branch change at this entire organization.”