• John Prescott says allegations reflect badly on police
• David Cameron resists calls to sack communications chief
• News International is not above the law, says Charles Clarke
The Metropolitan police was coming under mounting pressure today to launch a new investigation into Guardian allegations that the News of the World and other newspapers used criminal methods to get stories by hacking the phones of numerous public figures.
The former deputy prime minister John Prescott, one of the alleged targets of illegal phone-hacking, said he wanted answers from the police. “I find it staggering that there could be a list known to the police of people who had their phone tapped.
“I’m named as one of them. For such a criminal act not to be reported to me, and for action not to be taken against the people who have done it, reflects very badly on the police, and I want to know their answer.”
Prescott called on the Conservative party leader, David Cameron, to dismiss his director of communications, Andy Coulson, who was the deputy editor and then editor of the News of the World when journalists were using illegal methods. Coulson said yesterday: “This story relates to an alleged payment made after I left the News of the World two and half years ago. I took full responsibility at the time for what happened on my watch but without my knowledge and resigned.”
But Prescott said: “I think that David Cameron has to sack Andy Coulson because his denial is very narrow in the extreme. I think David Cameron himself has to be much clearer about the situation.”
This morning Cameron resisted calls to remove Coulson, telling reporters outisde his home in London: “It’s wrong for newspapers to breach people’s privacy with no justification. That is why Andy Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World two and a half years ago.
“Of course I knew about that resignation before offering him the job. But I believe in giving people a second chance. As director of communications for the Conservatives he does an excellent job in a proper, upright way at all times.”
Earlier, the PR agent Max Clifford, who is also one those whose phones was allegedly hacked into, asked: “Why has this just come out? According to the Guardian, it’s come from police sources. If the police had this information, why didn’t they act on it?”
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “There are lots of questions that need to be answered, serious questions.”
Responding to the claims, the Metropolitan police service (MPS) pointed out that its original investigation led to the conviction of the News of the World reporter Clive Goodman in 2007. “The MPS carried out an investigation into the alleged unlawful interception of telephone calls. Officers liaised closely with the Crown Prosecution Service. Two people were charged and subsequently convicted and jailed. We are not prepared to comment further.”
The London mayor, Boris Johnson, who was one of the figures allegedly targeted and is chairman of Metropolitan Police Authority, was challenged on the issue on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme. “As chairman of the MPA it would not be right to interfere in an operational decision they [the Met] might make.” He added that he was “confident” that if the police had a duty to investigate they would.
He said there was no need for him to contact the police over the matter. “It sounds like there is a full account in the Guardian,” he said.
John Whittingdale, the chairman of the Commons culture committee, said he wanted to summon newspaper editors to answer “serious” questions about the allegations.
“There are a number of questions I would like to put to News International on the basis of what the Guardian has reported,” he said.
His committee would examine the issue “as a matter of urgency” at a scheduled meeting later today, he said. “It may well be that we decide we wish to have somebody from News International to appear before us.”
He said he had seen no “direct evidence” that assurances previously given to the committee by the publisher on the matter had been untrue.
But he added: “If that is the case it does beg the question why News International have apparently paid huge sums of money in settlement of actions in the courts. That is a question I would wish to put to News International.”
The former Cabinet minister Geoff Hoon said: “It is hard to see how in these circumstances Andy Coulson can continue as David Cameron’s communications chief while such a cloud hangs over his reputation. David Cameron must make clear what action he intends to take on this matter.”
The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: “At the very least Andy Coulson was responsible for a newspaper that was out of control and at worst he was personally implicated.
“Either way, a future prime minister cannot have someone who is involved in these sort of underhand tactics. The exact parallel is with Damian McBride.
“If it is more than a thousand [phone taps] it seems most unlikely to me to have been just one journalist. There needs to be a full investigation.”
The former home secretary Charles Clarke said: “The home secretary should be asking the chief inspector of constabulary about police behavior in this whole incident. Serious questions need to be answered.”
He questioned why the police did not launch a wider investigation after the discovery that Goodman had been tapping phones for stories.
He told the Today programme: “News International needs to publish a full list of all those who it has bugged. The suggestion that News International is above the law is simply not acceptable … I think Murdoch is such a powerful figure that people don’t want to take him on gratuitously.”
He also called for Coulson to be sacked from his Conservative party role.