[July 08, 2011] 2ND ROUNDUP: Britain's hacking scandal hits Cameron with aide arrest Tweet LONDON, Jul 08, 2011 (dpa - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron Friday pledged to "get to the bottom" of the "devastating and despicable" newspaper phone-hacking affair that has rocked the government and seen one of his former closest aides arrested. Acknowledging that the phone-hacking scandal, centred on the News of the World newspaper, had thrown Britain into crisis, Cameron promised to examine the "too cosy" relationship between the media and politicians and announced details of major inquiries. "The buck stops right here," Cameron said, adding that he took "full responsibility" for hiring Andy Coulson, a former News of the World editor, as the Conservative Party's press spokesman in 2007. Coulson was arrested in London Friday, along with Clive Goodman, the former royal editor of the News of the World. After moving on to become the government's communications chief when Cameron came to power at the helm of a Conservative-Liberal coalition government in May, 2010, Coulson was forced to step down in January in connection with the hacking scandal. He denied knowing about the practices under his editorship -- but after a swirl of devastating allegations this week, it became clear that most of the illegal eavesdropping appeared to have been authorized under him. Allegations also emerged that he had authorized bribes to police officers in return for stories. Scotland Yard said Friday that he had been arrested in connection with allegations of corruption and phone-hacking. It later announced the arrest of Goodman on the same grounds. Cameron gave details of two separate inquiries that would be set up to investigate the scandal. One, to be led by a judge, would investigate the criminal allegations levelled at the News of the World, and also examine why the police had been slow in uncovering the illegal methods. A second independent inquiry would look at the culture, practices and ethics of the British press, while making recommendations for the improved press regulation. A separate panel overseen by a watchdog for complaints into the police, has already been set up to look at allegations that police officers received large sums of money in return for information from the News of the World. "There will be clarity -- real clarity -- about how all this came to pass, and the responsibilities we all have for the future," said Cameron. The development came after Rupert Murdoch, the Australian media magnate and owner of the News of the World, dramatically announced Thursday that he would close down the tabloid -- the best-selling newspaper in Britain -- this Sunday as a direct result of the scandal. The move to shut down the 168-year-old Sunday newspaper came after figures showed that 4,000 people had been subjected to illegal phone-hacking by investigators and journalists working for the paper. Cameron said the "devastating" hacking allegations revealed this week as a result of ongoing police investigations had shocked the country and were "truly despicable." "This is a time of crisis and concern," he told a news conference in Downing Street. "We are all in this together, including me," admitted Cameron, in a reference to his relationship with Coulson. "The decision to hire him was mine and mine alone, and I take full responsibility for it," said Cameron. Over the past week, allegations that surfaced as a result of ongoing police investigations showed that the News of the World intercepted not only the mobile phones of politicians and celebrities, but also of victims of horrific crimes, and the families of Britain's war dead from Iraq and Afghanistan. The allegation that investigators hacked into the phone of Milly Dowler, a teenager who was abducted and murdered in 2002, after she went missing, caused a public outcry. It was alleged that investigators erased messages from the girl's voicemail, giving her parents the "false hope" that she was still alive. It has also been alleged that relatives of victims of the 2005 suicide bombings on London's transport system were subjected to phone-hacking. As the crisis snowballed, it was revealed that investigators also allegedly hacked into the phone messages of relatives of soldiers who died in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Britain, Murdoch also owns the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times. His current plan to take over full control of BSkyB, the British satellite broadcaster, has come under intense scrutiny in the light of the scandal. To see more of dpa, go to http://www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html Copyright (c) 2011, dpa, Berlin Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]