Phone Hacking: Met Police detective Arrested

Policeman suspected of leaking details of hacking investigation as force also confirms arrest of 35-year-old man.












Phone hacking: the man has not been charged but he has been suspended by the Metropolitan police.

A police detective has been arrested on suspicion of leaking details about Scotland Yard's phone-hacking investigation.

The man has not been charged but he has been suspended by the Metropolitan police.

The Met also on Friday arrested a 35-year-old man, who Sky News named as former News of the World reporter Dan Evans, on suspicion of phone hacking. He has been released on police bail.

Evans was suspended by the paper more than a year ago after being named in a civil case against the now defunct tabloid's publisher, News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers, brought by interior designer Kelly Hoppen.

Sue Akers, the force's deputy assistant commissioner, who is leading the investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World, said: "I made very clear when I took on this investigation the need for operational and information security. It is hugely disappointing that this may not have been adhered to."

Akers added: "The MPS [Met] takes the unauthorised disclosure of information extremely seriously and has acted swiftly in making these arrests."

A spokesperson for Guardian News & Media, which publishes the Guardian, declined to comment on reports that the leaks had been to the Guardian, and said: "We note the arrest of a Scotland Yard detective on suspicion of misconduct in a public office relating to unauthorised disclosure of information.

"On the broader point raised by the arrest, journalists would no doubt be concerned if conversations between off-the-record sources and reporters came routinely to be regarded as criminal activity. In common with all news organisations we have no comment to make on the sources of our journalism."

Murdoch: This Scandal Has Exposed The Scale Of Elite Corruption

Cameron wants to bury the collusion uncovered in the hacking revelations but it's part of a growing crisis of official Britain













The Tory operation to bury the phone-hacking scandal in spin and official inquiries is now in full flow. On his way back from Africa, David Cameron declared it was essential to get the whole business into perspective, echoing Rupert Murdoch's insistence that his competitors had got up "this hysteria". Today, the prime minister chided Ed Miliband for "chasing conspiracy theories" and claimed it was really Gordon Brown who had been in the pocket of the global media billionaire.

Meanwhile, News International pundits and others with their own reasons to stem the flood of revelations have been loudly insisting that the political clout of Murdoch's corporate colossus has been exaggerated. The hyper-regulated BBC is the real media monopoly, they say, and in any case the current fixation with phone hacking has meant no one is discussing bankers' bonuses and the threat of another financial meltdown. This is a "frenzy that has grown out of control", the Daily Mail complained.

But the real frenzy isn't the exposure of the scandal – it's the scale of corruption, collusion and cover-up between News International, politicians and police that the scandal has revealed. As the cast of hacking victims, blaggers and blackmailers has lengthened, and the details of the incestuous payments and job-swapping between News International, government and Scotland Yard become more complex, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture that is now emerging.

If it were not for the uncovering of this cesspit, the Cameron government would be preparing to nod through the outright takeover of BSkyB by News International, taking its dominance of Britain's media and political world into Silvio Berlusconi territory. But what has been exposed now goes well beyond the hacking of murder victims and dead soldiers' families – or even the media itself. The scandal has lifted the lid on how power is really exercised in 21st-century Britain – in which the unreformed City and its bankers play a central part.

Murdoch's overweening political influence has long been recognised, from well before Tony Blair flew to Australia in 1995 to pay public homage at his corporate court. What has been less well understood is how close-up and personal the pressure exerted by his organisation has been throughout public life. The fear that those who crossed him would be given the full tabloid treatment over their personal misdemeanours, real or imagined, has proved to be a powerful Mafia-like racket.

It was the warning that News International would target their personal lives that cowed members of the Commons culture and media committee over pressing their investigation into phone hacking too vigorously before the last election. Barely a fortnight ago, Ed Miliband was warned that Murdoch's papers would "make it personal" after he broke with the political-class omerta towards the company. The same vow of silence meant that when Rebekah Brooks told MPs in 2003 her organisation had "paid the police for information", the bribery admission sank like a stone.

The Sopranos style is deeply embedded in the Murdoch dynasty. When the New Labour culture secretary Tessa Jowell broke up with her husband in 2006 as he faced Berlusconi-linked corruption charges (he was later cleared), Brooks took her out, letting her cry on her shoulder – just as News International was hacking into the couple's phone. Jowell has now called in her lawyers, but that didn't stop her attending Elisabeth Murdoch's lavish Chipping Norton party earlier this month, along with David Miliband and other Blairite luminaries. The family demands respect – even from those it has punished.

Of course, the British press has a long history of megalomaniacal, reactionary and criminal proprietors. Some, such as Conrad Black, ended up in prison – or, in the case of Robert Maxwell, would have done if he hadn't died. Others, such as the migrant-and-Muslim-baiting pornographer Richard Desmond, merely emphasise how narrow and dysfunctional media ownership is in Britain.

But Murdoch is a case apart, not only because of his commanding position in both print and satellite TV, but because of the crucial part he played in cementing Margaret Thatcher's political power and then shaping a whole era of New Labour/Tory neoliberal consensus that delivered enfeebled unions, privatisation and the Iraq war. His role in breaking the print unions at Wapping in the 1980s by sacking 5,000 mostly low-paid workers is still hailed in parts of the media as a brave blow for quality journalism.

It was nothing of the kind. The golden age of new titles never materialised, and it's certainly no coincidence that journalists were prevailed upon to resort to systematic illegality in a company that has refused to recognise independent trade unions ever since. Over those years, News International has used its grip on the political class to rewrite media regulation in its own image. As we now know, it has also suborned politicians and the police and operated as a freelance security service – not to expose the abuse of power, but to carry it out.

These revelations should ram home the reality that Britain has become a far more corrupt country than many realise. Much of that has been driven by the privatisation-fuelled revolving door culture that gives former ministers and civil servants plum jobs in the companies they were previously regulating.

But the scandal has also created a powerful opportunity to weaken the unaccountable corporate power that has dominated the British press and create the space for a freer, more diverse media. The Labour leader has naturally been attacked by News International journalists for his call to break up the Murdoch empire and limit media concentration as though he were unaware of the decline of print and the rise of the web. In fact, that shift makes public action more urgent and necessary – and if the Liberal Democrats recognise their own interests, even politically possible.

But several of these opportunities have come and gone. First the official deception of the Iraq war, then the collapse of a deregulated banking system, then the exposure of systematic sleaze in parliament revealed a growing crisis in the way the country is run. Now that crisis has been shown to have spread to the media and police. Official Britain isn't working. Sooner or later, pressure for change will become unstoppable.

Will The Phone-Hacking Scandal Bring Down David Cameron?

As the phone-hacking scandal continues to swirl in Great Britain, questions are being raised about Prime Minister David Cameron and his ties with senior executives of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, including Rebekah Brooks, the former editor of News of the World (NOTW); and Andy Coulson, a former NOTW employee who was later hired by Cameron as his media aide.















Both Brooks and Coulson have been arrested under allegations that they were involved with illegal phone hacking and/or bribing police officers.
As new revelations surface daily, could this disgraceful episode reach all the way to No. 10 Downing Street?
International Business Times spoke with Dr Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in politics at the University of Leeds in England about how this snowballing scandal might impact Cameron and his term in office.

IBTIMES: Is the "News of the World"/Murdoch phone hacking scandal the biggest political imbroglio in the UK since the Profumo affair* of 1963? Has there been anything this big since then?

HONEYMAN: I think the question is a bit misleading. The Profumo scandal involved sex, the Cold War, espionage, prostitution, suicide and extortion.
The 1986 Westland Helicopter** affair involved cold hard cash, and the MPs expenses scandal*** was another money-related scandal.
However, the NOTW saga involves criminal activity and the media.
All these scandals are very different and I don't think that they can easily be compared to each other. There is, however, no doubt that the current scandal has certainly ruffled plenty of feathers

IBTIMES: The Profumo scandal ultimately led to the resignation of Conservative Prime Minister Harold MacMillan. Could this hacking-scandal bring down Cameron, or do you think he will survive it?

HONEYMAN: I doubt it will bring down Cameron, although it rather depends on whether or not more revelations come out.
Currently there are new revelations virtually every day so anything could happen.
To date, all David Cameron has done is appoint an individual [Andy Coulson] to work for him who had resigned from his job under a cloud, but who had also been cleared by several investigations, including one by the Metropolitan Police Service.

While [Cameron] perhaps should have erred on the side of caution and not appointed somebody connected with the story (regardless of guilt or innocence), this isn't the crime of the century.
Incidentally, I should point out that the Profumo affair directly led to the resignation of John Profumo, but was only a contributory factor in the resignation of Harold Macmillan. It was not the only factor.

IBTIMES: What is at the heart of Cameron's problems with this phone-hacking affair? Is it that he has frequently met with Murdoch and is close friends with Rebekah Brooks? Or is it that he hired Andy Coulson as his media aide? Where is the potential conflict of interest?

HONEYMAN: The key problem that Cameron has is the hiring of Coulson. Being closely linked to Rebekah Brooks and the Murdochs certainly doesn't make Cameron unique. In that regard, he is one of many amongst the British political elite [who is close to Murdoch & co.] The suspicion is that Coulson was guilty of a crime and therefore should never have been hired.
Another problem which has raised its head (although I doubt it would have been such an issue without the Coulson connection and the phone hacking scandal) is whether or not Cameron discussed the British Sky Broadcasting takeover bid with Murdoch or Brooks -- although he claims he did not have any inappropriate discussions with Brooks.

IBTIMES: Under what circumstances would Cameron be forced to call a snap election?

HONEYMAN: If the Liberal Democrats left the coalition and the Conservatives were unable to pass key legislation in the House of Commons, this would lead to a vote of “no confidence” and an election would need to be called. Cameron could call an election under his own steam if he felt that his position would be improved by this, or conversely, if his position was untenable.

IBTIMES: Are any Labour or Liberal Democrat politicians calling for Cameron to resign?

HONEYMAN: The Liberal Democrats are not calling for Cameron's resignation, and the Labour Party, while trying to make the most out of this, have been reticent about calling for Cameron's resignation – instead, they are “hinting” that he should resign.

IBTIMES: Aside from the phone-hacking scandal, how popular is Cameron? Is his Conservative base happy with him (obviously, Labour is not)?

HONEYMAN: Cameron is fairly popular within his own party and the Conservative electorate. This scandal is something of a storm in a Westminster teacup, engulfing the NOTW and the Murdochs, but Cameron is really on the periphery, regardless of how his political opponents try to emphasize and magnify his actions.
The public are really focused on the impact of economic actions upon their daily lives -- jobs, taxes etc. as this has far more bearing on their everyday lives.

IBTIMES: In the event a new election is called, who would be the Labour candidate? Would it be current party leader Ed Miliband? And would Labour be strongly favored to win such an election?

HONEYMAN: Labour would be unlikely to dump Ed Miliband as he has only been leader for just over a year. No party likes to have a revolving door of leaders; it makes them look unsettled and desperate.
Were an election to be held now, I don't think Labour would win outright. It seems unlikely that there would be a clear winner, although there would almost certainly be a clear loser -- the Liberal Democrats.

*John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War under Conservative Prime Minister Harold MacMillan was found to have had an affair with a prostitute named Christine Keeler, who was also allegedly the reputed mistress of a reputed Russian spy based in the Soviet Embassy in London. After lying about the affair to the House of Commons, Profumo was forced to resign in disgrace. A few months later in ill health, Macmillan also stepped down.

**The Westland affair involved Britain’s last helicopter manufacturer, which was struggling. Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine wanted to merge the company with a consortium of European firms; while Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Trade and Industry Secretary Leon Brittan wanted Westland to merge with Sikorsky, an American company.
The complex affair eventually led to Heseltine's resignation.

***In 2009, outrage erupted among the British public when it was revealed that several MPs had made fraudulent expense claims over a period of years. The episode lead to waves of firings, resignations and criminal prosecutions that led to imprisonment.