Telephone Hacking

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath Excerpts

Wednesday 6th April 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, that is very much one of the larger issues that it would be appropriate for the sort of general inquiry for which the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, is calling to look at once the current investigations are complete.

[Lord Hunt of Kings Heath]

My Lords, does the noble Lord not agree that it would give a great deal of reassurance if the Government were to say today that they would be prepared to commission an independent inquiry? If they were to do so, would that inquiry look into the appropriateness of social contacts between the police force and certain members of a newspaper publishing empire? Would it also look at the appropriateness of senior police officers, after retirement, ending up on the payroll of those certain newspaper publishers?

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I am happy to give the assurance that I will take the strength of feeling of this House back to senior Ministers. We are all aware of the complexities of this case. This is something with which the previous Government had to deal, as well as this Government. There are many aspects of concern to people in this House, the other place and more widely.