Phone hacking: Cameron and Miliband demand new watchdog
(about 2 hours later)
Labour leader Ed Miliband has called for the Press Complaints Commission to be scrapped in the wake of the phone hacking scandal at the News of World.
David Cameron and Ed Miliband have called for the Press Complaints Commission to be scrapped following its handling of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
He said the PCC was "a toothless poodle" and a new body with "proper investigative powers" was needed.
The prime minister called the watchdog "ineffective and lacking in rigour" and demanded "a new system entirely".
David Cameron says a probe will be set up immediately to examine the "culture, practices and ethics" of the press.
The Labour leader said the PCC was a "toothless poodle".
The prime minister urged cross-party support for a "truly independent" regulator to "clean up" the industry.
Former NoW editor Andy Coulson has been arrested by police investigating corruption and phone hacking claims.
After the two men spoke on Friday, it emerged that Andy Coulson, the former editor of the News of the World who later worked as a close aide to David Cameron, had been arrested on suspicion of corruption and phone hacking.
Mr Coulson worked as Mr Cameron's communications chief after resigning from the News of the World in 2007, following the jailing of the paper's royal editor and a private investigator over phone hacking.
Two inquiries
Mr Miliband said the prime minister had "serious questions" to answer about this decision, which he called an "appalling error of judgement".
At a press conference, Mr Cameron said "utterly unacceptable practices" had taken place at the News of the World and potentially other newspapers and politicians from all parties had failed to "grip the situation".
'Institutionally conflicted'
As well as the investigation into press regulation, Mr Cameron also said Parliament would be asked soon to consider the terms of reference of a judge-led public inquiry into the phone hacking scandal - although he stressed this could not begin in full until the current police investigation and any criminal proceedings had concluded.
But Mr Cameron said he took "full responsibility" for hiring Mr Coulson, who quit his government job earlier this year, saying he had decided to "give him a second chance".
Mr Miliband said the impending closure of the News of the World, following allegations crime victims and bereaved families may have had their mobile phones hacked into, was "not the answer" to restoring trust and senior executives must "take responsibility".
In a speech in London, the Labour leader said: "For too long, the political class have been too concerned about what people in the press would think and too fearful of speaking out. We must all bear responsibility for that, my party has not been immune from it, nor has the current government."
While defending the right to a "free and buccaneering press", he said newspapers "must reform in order to protect and restore their reputation".
Mr Miliband has already called for a judge-led inquiry into events and for Rebekah Brooks - who was editor of the News of the World at the time it is alleged murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone was hacked into - to resign as chief executive of News International, the newspaper's parent company.
But he said in his speech that "wholesale reform of our system of regulation" was now needed.
"The Press Complaints Commission has totally failed. It failed to get to the bottom of the allegations about what happened at News International in 2009.
"Its chair admits she was lied to but could do nothing about it. It was established to be a watchdog. But it has been exposed as a toothless poodle. It is time to put it out of its misery. "The PCC has not worked. We need a new watchdog. There needs to be fundamental change."
He said that his "instincts" were that self-regulation should continue but with a new body with board members with "greater independence" from those they regulate, proper investigative and enforcement powers".
Coulson role
The Labour leader has said the prime minister has "serious questions" to answer about his decision to hire Mr Coulson - who resigned as NoW editor in 2006 after the paper's royal editor and a private investigator working for the paper were jailed for phone hacking.
Mr Coulson, who left his No 10 role in January, has always denied he sanctioned or was aware of the practice while he was editor.
In his speech Mr Miliband said: "Putting it right for the prime minister means admitting the appalling error of judgement he made in hiring Andy Coulson, apologising for bringing him into the centre of the government machine and coming clean about what conversations he had with Andy Coulson before and after he was appointed about phone hacking."
Mr Cameron said he took "full responsibility" for the decision to hire Mr Coulson, saying he had decided to "give him a second chance".
"People will be able to judge whether that was the right or the wrong thing to do," he said.
"People will be able to judge whether that was the right or the wrong thing to do," he said.
He made clear that he had sought assurances from Mr Coulson about his past activities at the News of the World before recruiting him but that the "second chance had not worked out".
Speaking in Downing Street, he added that he had sought assurances from Mr Coulson about his past activities before recruiting him but the "second chance had not worked out".
Sky bid
Asked about the future of former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, who is now chief executive of the paper's parent company News International, Mr Cameron said it was not his job to "pick and choose" who ran newspapers.
Asked about the future of Rebekah Brooks, Mr Cameron said it was not his job to "pick and choose" who ran newspapers. But he said he understood that Mrs Brooks had offered her resignation and that "I would have accepted it".
But he said he understood that she had offered her resignation and "I would have accepted it".
The BBC's Political Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue said this was the closest that Mr Cameron - who has been accused of having too close a relationship with senior figures at News International - had come to saying she should stand down.
Mr Cameron said any new press regulatory body should be "truly independent", unlike the PCC, which is part-run by newspaper editors.
On the issue of the proposed takeover of BSkyB by News Corporation, News International's parent company, Mr Cameron said the government had to follow the proper processes.
In a 2009 report the PCC concluded there was no evidence it had been misled over phone hacking by the News of the World, which is closing down this weekend.
MPs from all parties have urged the culture secretary to delay a decision on whether to approve the deal until further investigations have taken place.
The prime minister said: "Let's be honest. The Press Complaints Commission has failed. In this case, the hacking case, frankly it was pretty much absent.
Simon Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, has written to Ofcom calling on the regulator to investigate whether BSkyB is "fit and proper" to hold a broadcasting licence.
"Therefore we have to conclude that it's ineffective and lacking in rigour.
"There is a strong case for saying it's institutionally conflicted because competing newspapers judge each other. As a result it lacks public confidence.
"I believe we need a new system entirely. It will be for the inquiry to recommend what the system should look like."
'Fearful'
In a speech in London, Mr Miliband said the impending closure of the News of the World, following allegations that crime victims and bereaved families may have had their mobile phones hacked into, was "not the answer" to restoring trust and senior executives must "take responsibility".
He added: "For too long, the political class have been too concerned about what people in the press would think and too fearful of speaking out. We must all bear responsibility for that, my party has not been immune from it, nor has the current government."
While defending the right to a "free and buccaneering press", he said newspapers "must reform in order to protect and restore their reputation".
Mr Miliband has called for Mrs Brooks - who was editor of the News of the World at the time it is alleged murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone was hacked into - to resign as chief executive of News International.
But he said in his speech that "wholesale reform of our system of regulation" was also now needed.
He added: "The Press Complaints Commission has totally failed. It failed to get to the bottom of the allegations about what happened at News International in 2009.
"Its chair admits she was lied to but could do nothing about it. It was established to be a watchdog. But it has been exposed as a toothless poodle. It is time to put it out of its misery.
"The PCC has not worked. We need a new watchdog. There needs to be fundamental change."
However, Bob Satchwell, executive director of the Society of Editors, said the idea that the News of the World scandal had shown up a failure of ethics across the industry was "total nonsense".
The PCC, set up in 1991, includes the editors of the Mail on Sunday, Sunday Telegraph and Sunday Mirror among its 17 members.
