Police Probe Murdoch Paper Phone Hacking Claims

Britain's most senior policeman ordered an inquiry on Thursday into reports that journalists at Rupert Murdoch's bestselling British newspaper conspired to hack into the phones of celebrities, legislators and public figures.

London police chief Paul Stephenson said a senior officer will investigate allegations in the Guardian newspaper that News of the World reporters worked with private investigators to access "two or three thousand" private mobile phones.

The publisher of the News of the World, Sun and Times newspapers has made no comment.

Former British deputy prime minister John Prescott, U.S. actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Australian model Elle Macpherson were among those targeted by reporters seeking exclusive stories for the tabloid, according to the report.

"I have asked Assistant Commissioner John Yates to establish the facts of that case and look into the detail," Stephenson said.

Yates led a long-running investigation into the so-called "cash for honors" scandal that overshadowed the end of Tony Blair's premiership.

The Guardian said private investigators working for the News of the World intercepted voicemail messages and gained access to personal data such as itemized phone bills and bank statements.

Ruling Labour Party politicians called for an inquiry into the role of the police, Murdoch's newspapers and the opposition Conservative Party, which hired former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as its communications chief in May 2007.

Coulson resigned as the paper's editor after royal reporter Clive Goodman was jailed a few months earlier for hacking into the phones of members of the royal family's household.

News International, the British newspaper subsidiary of media company News Corp, has already paid 1 million pounds ($1.61 million) to settle court cases with three people -- including football executive Gordon Taylor -- whose phones were violated, the Guardian said.

"The enormity of this is just unbelievable and raises many, many questions," Prescott told the BBC.

Britain's newspaper watchdog, the Press Complaints Commission, and parliament's media committee must investigate and the police have to explain why they made no arrests over the latest claims, Prescott added.

Former Home Secretary (interior minister) Charles Clarke said Conservative leader David Cameron, who leads in the polls with an election less than a year away, should sack Coulson.

"I think it is outrageous. We do need action immediately," Clarke told BBC radio, adding that interior minister Alan Johnson must demand a report into the police's behavior.

Cameron said he would not get rid of Coulson, adding, "I believe in giving people a second chance." British lawmaker John Whittingdale, whose parliamentary committee investigated the Goodman case, said his committee would meet to consider reopening its inquiry.

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