London: British Prime Minister David Cameron is cutting short his ongoing visit to Africa and to join other ministers and parliamentarians in debating the phone-hacking issue in a special session of House of Commons on Wednesday.
Cameron said during a press conference in Africa on Monday that he will make a statement in the House of Commons in the light of the hearings of two select committees on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister is facing renewed questions over the phone-hacking scandal after the head of the Metropolitan Police resigned over the issue.
Parliament was due to go into recess after Tuesday afternoon, but the special session on Wednesday will discuss the Tuesday hearing of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee at which Rupert Murdoch, his son James and Rebekah Brooks are due to explain their actions on the issue.
Sir Paul Stephenson, Britain's senior-most police officer who resigned on Sunday, is also scheduled to appear before the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.
Cameron's four-day visit to Africa has been curtailed to two days to enable him to return for the Wednesday session of the House of Commons.
He will now visit only South Africa and Nigeria on Tuesday. Plans to visit Rwanda and Sudan have been scrapped.
Stephenson, who resigned on Sunday, was lauded for his contribution to Scotland Yard as police commissioner, but ministers, MPs and the London mayor Boris Johnson said they understood the reasons for his resignation.
He said in a statement, "I have informed the Home Secretary and the Mayor of my intention to resign as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service".
Stephenson was linked to former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis in reports which said he had a five-week stay earlier this year at a luxury health spa where Wallis worked as a public relations consultant.
The Metropolitan police (also called the Met) has faced strong criticism from ministers and MPs for failing to get to the bottom of the phone-hacking scandal while conducting two earlier inquiries into the issue.
Stephenson said, "I have taken this decision as a consequence of the ongoing speculation and accusations relating to the Met's links with News International at a senior level and in particular in relation to Mr Neil Wallis who as you know was arrested in connection with Operation Weeting last week".
He added, "Let me state clearly, I and the people who know me know that my integrity is completely intact".
Wallis, who was arrested last week, was also hired as an advisor by the Met after he resigned from the News of the World.
Comments
0 comment